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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE EATON SERIES 



BUILDERS OF OUR 
NATION 



By 

ALMA HOLMAN BURTON 

Author of the Eaton United States History 
and other historical works 







JlAI()N(5''QJMPANY3 

11 ^^i!^s. Chicago] 



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Copyright, 1905 
Copyright, 1910 

EATON & COMPANY 

Manufactured by 
BROCK & RANKIN 



!Ci.A2(;8y8i 



PREFACE 

History as a subject for study should appeal with 
special force to children. The degree of interest, with 
which it makes its appeal, depends largely upon 
whether the child's introduction to the subject attracts 
or repels. 

It is the author's desire, therefore, to trace the evolu- 
tion of our nation, with its English speech and English 
traditions, so simply that the recital may be compre- 
hended quite as clearly by a child ten or twelve years 
old as by his elders. And why not teach even 
beginners that "the roots of the present lie deep in 
the past;" that before America might become a factor 
in human progress, the dormant energies of northern 
Europe, as yet without trade or manufactories, must 
be awakened; that the great possibilities of eastern 
commerce must be opened to the wistful gaze of the 
Atlantic seamen, whose profits had been in scanty 
catches of fish; that the spirit of rivalry for riches and 
rule must be roused in imperial breasts ? 

In other words, is it not well that the young readers 
should become acquainted with the subtle forces that 
prepared the way for a Columbus and learn of the 
conditions that sent to our shores the hardy pioneers who 
laid the foundation for our sturdy American manhood ? 

With this query in view the author has chosen for 
the initial chapters, periods antedating that fateful 
Friday morning, August 3, 1492, when the prows of 
three Spanish ships were set toward the west. 



iv PREFACE 

The' biographical method has been adopted be- 
cause immature minds are especially susceptible to the 
charm of personal endeavor. In each of the eighteen 
biographies the hero chosen is closely identified with 
the upward and onward tendency of the period in which 
he lived. The man and the nation are as closely asso- 
ciated as possible in the hope that the interest attaching 
to the one may compensate for any lack of interest in 
the other. 

Geography and chronology, the "two eyes of his- 
tory/' which so often stare the young reader out of 
countenance, are in most cases relegated to the margins 
of the book ; yet the dates are so profuse and the maps 
are in such close relation to the immediate text that the 
child will gain a much clearer conception of both time 
and place than would be possible if the citations were 
continually interrupting the narration. 

The "Builders of Our Nation," though reasonably 
complete in itself, is intended as a preparatory study 
for the "Eaton History of the United States." The 
beginner's book therefore dwells somewhat at length 
upon the periods of discovery and colonization. These 
periods are less fully treated in the more advanced 
work in order that more space may be given to the sub- 
sequent periods of nationality and progress. 

To the tactful, earnest teachers of our public schools 
this little book is intrusted with the hope that every 
child who reads its pages may be lured on and on 
through more intricate paths to a broad view of the 
History- making Present where he may one day play 
his part. 



PREFACE V 

Grateful acknowledgments for helpful suggestions 
as to the text of this book are especially due to O. T. 
Bright, of Chicago, Illinois, F. W. Nichols, of Evans- 
ton, Illinois, and Miss Cora Hamilton and S. B. Hursh 
of the State Normal School, Macomb, Illinois. 

Alma Holman Burton. 



CONTENTS 







PAGE 


I. 


Hiawatha . . , . . o \ . ^ . . . , 


I 


II. 


Marco Polo 


14 


III. 


Prince Henry, the Navigatoe » 


23 


IV. 


Christopher Columbus .,.,..... 


29 


V. 


Fernando De Soto ....,..,. 


46 


VI. 


Sir Francis Drake ...,»... 


61 


VII. 


John Smith , . o . , 


74 


vm. 


Miles Standish 


88 


IX. 


Peter Stuyvesant „ . . , 


104 


X. 


La Salle o » . 


"5 
129 


XI. 


William Penn , , . 


XII. 


William Pitt ............ 


. 141 


XIII. 


George Washingion ........ 


• 155 


XIV. 


Andrew Jackson . „ 


. 178 


XV. 


Daniel Webster 


• 195 

211 


XVI. 


Abraham Lincoln 


XVII. 


Samuel Finley Breese Morse .... 


224 


XVIII. 


William McKinley 


236 



MOST IMPORTANT MAPS 



PAGE 

Indian Tribes of North and South America ... 6 

Marco Polo's Travels 20 

Voyages of Columbus ■ 38 

De Soto's Travels in America 58 

British Isles 62 

Netherlands 90 

British Possessions in America. 1764 150 

United States in 1788 174 

United States in 1800 . 182 

Territorial Growth of U. S. . . 186 

United States in 1830 190 

United States in 1850 , . 210 

United States in i860 ............ 218 

United States in 1905 240 

Cuba ...... . 241 

Hawaii 244 

Philippines 245 

Porto Rico 246 

World in 1899 248 

Panama Canal Route ............ 249 

vii 




HIAWATHA 

THE INDIAN PROPHET 

S lAWATHA was the son of the West 
Wind, so the poet tells us, and 
his young mother died when he 
was so small he could not remem- 
ber her face. 
No one really knows when Hiawatha Thebirthof 

was born. But if he ever was born his 

1434 

ancestors were certainly living when Henry Henry the Navigator's 
the Navigator's pilots first saw the black negroes'" 

men of Africa; yes, and more than a hun- 

' -' ' 1272 

-gf dred years before that, when Marco Polo Marco Poio sees the 
first saw the yellow men of Asia. And ages before 
that his race, whose skin was reddish-brown, had been 
wandering over the vast continents of North and South 
America, which the white people of Europe knew 
nothing about. 

Hiawatha belonged to the Iroquois tribe, who dwelt The iroquois 
in what is now central New York, and along the St. 
Lawrence, and the lower lakes.' 

His grandmother, old Nokomis, taught him to know 
the forest as the white boy knows his book. 
Even while he was a papoose, bound to the 
branch of a tree in a linden cradle, old No- 
komis crooned up to him tales of the woodlands, 
and the marshes, and the river that ran so 
swiftly past the wigwam. ^i't : 

I See map, page 6. A PAPOOSE 




Builders of Our Nation 



Hiawatha's 
education 





BOW AND ARROW 



At evening when the fire-flies fluttered, she called up 
to him that they were setting candles in the pine trees 
to light him to bed; when the slow moon rose above 
the hill-top, she said the watchman was coming to 
guard him from harm all the night. If a hooting broke 
the silence and he lisped out shrilly: "What is that, 
Nokomis?" she soothed him, gently saying it 
was the owl and the owlets talking in their 
native language. 

Day after day he lay there in the branches. 

He learned all the noises of the forest. As soon 

as he could toddle off among the tree trunks he 

found where the squirrels hid their acorns, and 

how the beavers built their lodges, and what made 

the rabbits seem so timid. 

Hiawatha lived alone with old Nokomis, but the 
woods were full of friends. He could answer the calls 
of the birds, and the growls of the bear, and the howls 
of the wolf, and the croaks of the frog, and the high, 
sharp neighs of the red deer. He glided like the weasel, 
he ran like the bison, he raised himself high like the 
bear when it strikes with its paw. And these creatures 
soon began to know him and to love him. 

When Hiawatha learned to make his bow of ash 
wood and his oaken arrows, he shot so fast and so far 
that if he sent ten arrows upward, the last one left the 
bowstring before the first had fallen. Yet, swiftly as he 
sent his arrows, he could shoot straight out before him 
and spring forward with such fleetness that the arrow 
would fall behind him. 

When he learned to build a boat of birch bark — with 



Hiawatha 




the larch-tree roots to bind it, and the fir-tree sap to 
glue it, and the quills of the porcu- 
pine stained with the juice of berries 
for a border — he glided up and down 
the river, sometimes seated, some- 
times standing, trailing strings of fish 
behind him. A crumpled rose leaf 

in the current, or a twisted twig that indian canoe 

hung above the water, often told him a long, long 
storv. 

So Hiawatha really read the forest as the white boy 
reads his book. 

After a time he wandered from Nokomis to mingle Hiawatha joins ws 
with the chiefs of his clan. Through the Moon of ^'""'^ 
Leaves and the Moon of Strawberries' he dwelt in the 
Iroquois tents. The Iroquois tribe was divided into 
five great nations. Sometimes these nations quarreled 
with one another, but they spoke the same language 
and usually went together on the warpath against 
hostile tribes. * 

Iroquois who were related formed clans — sisters 
and brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, 
grandmothers, grandfathers, great grandmothers, great 
grandfathers ; and second and third cousins counted too. 
Families in the clan, or as many as could do so, lived 
together in one "long house," built of wood and covered The long house 
over with elm bark. The house was divided into 
rooms. Each family occupied one room. Four rooms 
had one fire-pit, where four families cooked their food. 
If I told you Hiawatha visited in a house with ''five 



The months of May and June. 



Builders of Our Nation 




INDIAN TOTEM POLE 



that 



The Dakotahs 



The Mobilians 



fires," you would surely know that he was an Iroquois, 
and that the "long house" had tw^enty families in it. 
Over each house stood the totem pole of the clan. The 
totem pole was a kind of coat of arms with an animal 
for its symbol — a wolf, a bear, a tortoise, a beaver, 
or a red deer. 

In pleasant weather the warriors did not stay 
long in the houses. They sped down the rivers 
fishing or plunged deep into the forest after 
game, and Hiawatha was always with them. 
When the stars came out they lighted a fire of 
leaves and twigs, with flint stones, and sat 
around it in a circle. Then Hiawatha asked 
them many questions. The warriors told him 
between the Rocky Mountains and the 
Mississippi River lived the Dakotahs,' who dwelt 
in skin tents and moved from place to place to 
hunt and fish. East of the great Father of 
Waters,^ and south of the Tennessee lived the 
Mobilians,' a confederacy of many nations 
■ — the Chickasaws, who were cunning thieves; 
the Choctaws, who pressed their papooses' 
heads quite flat; the Creeks and 
Seminoles, far down on a gulf of the 
salt sea, who wove cloth from buffalo 
wool and wild hemp, and made pots 
from clay, and had nets called '^ham- 
mocks" for beds, which they hung 
between two posts. 
Hiawatha asked the warriors how the Creeks and 
Seminoles had learned to make the pots of clay and 

I See map, p. 6. ^ The meaning of "Mississippi." 




INDIAN TENT 



Hiawatha 



cloth of wool and wild hemp ; but they merely shook their 
heads for answer. What need had men of such things ? 
There were skins in plenty for the winter, and gourds 
and deer horns for the water! 

"Umph! Umph!" then went around the circle. 

They told him about his neighbors, the Algonquins, 
who did not bother about pot-making. The hunting 
grounds of the Algonquins stretched from the Atlantic 
salt sea to the Mississippi. The Algonquins went on The Algonquins 
the w^arpath whenever they could. Sometimes they 
put on paint and feathers to go to Kentucky, "The 
Dark and Bloody Ground." All nations hunted in 
Kentucky, but no nation dared to dwell there; for the 
warriors always brought back many scalp-locks. 

Some of Hiawatha's kinsmen showed long scalp- 
locks they had taken in Kentucky. This was Creek, 
and that was Choctaw, these were Seminoles, and one, 
with feathers still stuck in it, was from a big Algonquin 
chieftain. 

The Algonquins lived in wigwams made of bark. 
They painted their naked bodies, and they shaved their 
hair except the scalp-lock, which they trimmed and 
decked with feathers like a banner, and which they 
dared their foes to come and capture. 

These things and many others Hiawatha heard 
about his neighbors as he sat around- the camp-fires. 
Then he went back to his wigwam ; but he kept think- 
ing over w^hat the chiefs had told him. 

Among the kinsmen that came to see Nokomis was 
lagoo, famous as a story-teller. Often when the air 
was white with moonlight, lagoo sat alone with Hia 




INDIAN WARRIOR 



Builders of Our Nation 




INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA 



Hiawatha 7 

watha. Once he told of tribes far to the south and 
bordering on a great salt water/ These people, said 
lagoo, built stone houses, with straight stone pillars 
like the tree trunks, carved all over with strange totems. 
Some of the houses were temples, where priests in long 
robes made sacrifices upon an altar to their god, the 
Sun. These houses set together made great cities. 
There were many cities in the southlands, said lagoo; 
but Mexico, on the shores of a lake, was the greatest, Mexico 
with straight broad stone paths that led to other cities. 

Between the cities were fields of maize, and cane 
with sweet sap like the maple. There were shrubs 
that bore berries which were brewed for drink. There 
were plants that had tufts of white down like the 
thistles, from which the squaws made cloth, which they 
dyed in colors made from roots and barks. 

Thousands and thousands of slaves, taken in battle, 
worked deep in the sides of the mountains to get metals 
— one yellow as the buttercups and another pale as 
moonbeams — which cunning artisans fashioned into 
necklaces and rings and wristlets. 

The men of the southlands lined the walls of their 
temples with these metals and built their altars of them Mexican temples 
and stored the rest away in heaps in public buildings. 

The people who lived in Mexico were called the 
i\ztecs. Their king, the montezuma, was a mighty 
w^arrior. He had bows and arrows that numbered like 
the stars to be ready if enemies came to his kingdom. 
When one montezuma died his oldest son or oldest 
brother mounted the throne, which shone like the sun. 

• See map, p. 6. 



8 Builders of Our Nation 

It was a wonderful story lagoo was telling! Hia- 
watha did not hear the owl that hooted from a nearby 
fir tree. 

When a silence fell upon the night air he asked in 
a half whisper where these people learned to build stone 
houses, lay stone paths, dig metals, weave cloth, 
and plant fine gardens of fruits and flowers. 

lagoo, the great traveler and boaster, looked very wise 
as he sat there in the moonlight. He kept silent for a 
moment. Then he said it was tradition that ages and 
ages ago a child of the Sun, with skin like the snow 
and hair like the buttercups and eyes blue as the lake, 
had come to earth to teach these people in the south- 
lands. 

"And what became of the white man?" whispered 
Hiawatha. 

"He lived with them many, many summers," said 
lagoo. "When they needed him no longer he called 
them all together. He told them he was going to the 
great Hereafter, but some day another prophet would 
come down among them with a white face like his own." 

"Esa, esa, old lagoo! Shame upon you!" cried 
Nokomis, when Hiawatha told her the story. 

But Hiawatha could not cease his thinking, though 
he was always very busy. In the ]\Ioon of Falling 
Leaves' he joined a fishing expedition. When the 
snowflakes sifted through the forest he put on snow- 
shoes for a great hunt, and he brought back loads of 
skins and dried meat. 

But he could not cease his thinking, though he made 

■ September. 



Hiawatha 9 

things ready for the warpath with his people. He 
helped to build a great fire in the open. He painted 
his face in stripes of red and yellow, put turkey feathers 
in his hair, borrowed from Nokomis all her beads and 
feathers, and tossed the finest bear skin on his shoulders. 

He helped to set up a red post. With the other 
warriors, all in paint and feathers, he marched slowly 
round the post. Faster and faster went the footsteps. 
Someone thumped upon a drum of deer skin. Loud 
and louder rose the chanting, until it changed to war 
whoops. Hiawatha struck the red post with the others. 
He kicked it and stabbed it, just as he intended to do 
to his foes. The great warriors shouted the number 
of scalps they had taken and the number they intended 
to take before they came back to their wigwams. 

Hiawatha had never cut a scalp-lock. He could 
only boast how many he too would take when the 
battle was on. 

When dawn broke above the tree-tops he laid aside 
his war gear and, half naked like the others, hurried to 
his first real battle. 

The way was long. Then came blood-curdling 
war whoops. The ground shook with the fury of the 
combat. The trees swam round. The air was black 
with arrows. The hills hissed back the twang of bow- 
strings. Hiawatha shot from his quiver all his jasper- 
headed arrows. He kept rushing onward. He 
stumbled over bodies streaked with crimson. He beat 
and bruised about him with his war club. He did not 
know just what was happening till he saw himself sur- 
rounded by his clansmen, who were shouting "Hia- 
watha! Hiawatha!" 



INDIAN WAR 
CLUB 



lO 



Builders 0} Our Nation 



The relura home 



Hiawatha's fasting 



Then he looked and saw a string of bloody scalp- 
locks dangling from his belt — one, two, three, and up 
to twenty. No great brave who boasted at the war 
dance carried half so many scalp-locks. The warriors 
started home in triumph. 

One night they halted in a gully of a mountain. 
Fire was struck from flint stones, game was cooked, 
and the warriors slept in rows before the blazing logs — ■ 
all but Hiawatha who kept thinking. He remembered 
the hate in his heart when he whirled around the war 
post; he heard again the hiss of arrows and the tumult 
of the battle; he felt with his fingers the long damp 
scalp-locks that hung at his belt; he gazed upon his 
kinsmen as they lay there in the firelight with their 
weapons and their war gear. The feuds of ages had 
set upon their faces deep lines which showed beneath 
the war paint. 

The fire smouldered away to soft pink coals, like 
seashells; the noises of the forest hushed in sleep, but 
Hiawatha lay there, with his eyes half open, thinking. 

Presently he arose. He trod softly through the rim 
of sleepers. He stepped beyond the open to a wood. 
He stooped and dug a hollow in the leaf mould 
with his scalp-knife. He rose again, and one by one 
he smoothed the scalp-locks of his foes and laid them 
gently in the hollow, which he then filled with leaves 
and bushes. Then he trod his way into the forest 
to the shadow of a rock where no warrior's foot had 
ventured. Here he built a tent and fasted seven 
days and seven nights. He prayed to the Great 
Spirit : 



Hiawatha- ii 

Not for greater skill in hunting, 
Not for greater craft in fishing, 
Not for triumph in the battle; 



But for profit of the people — 
How to help them live like brothers. 

When the days of prayer and fast were over, Hia- 
watha went back to old Nokomis. The braves who 
had come home from the battle had already told Nokomis 
of his prowess. She ran to meet him, shouting out her 
welcome. He was wan and thin and haggard, but his 
eyes were very bright. 

"Where are the scalp-locks?" called Nokomis, in 
haste to feel them with her fingers. 

Hiawatha told her of his days of prayer and fasting. 
He said the Great Spirit had taught him how to live 
and toil and suffer, that the Iroquois might prosper. 

He cleared the streams of logs and sand bars; he 
dried the swamps that bred diseases; he taught the 
use of barks and roots and herbs for sickness and the 
antidotes for poisons; he tilled the soil for maize which 
brought forth yellow harvests so that no one need go 
hungry. He summoned all the nations of his language 
to sit with him in a council — Mohawks,' Oneidas, 
Cayugas, Senecas, and Onondagas. 

He persuaded them to stop their wrangling and to 
smoke the pipe of peace around a camp-fire — five great The Five Nations 
nations, quite united under the name of Iroquois. 

He painted, on smooth birch bark, shapes and figures The sign NVTiiing 
which had meaning, so that they might speak to one 
another from a distance : life was a white circle, death 

I See map, p. 6 . 




12 Builders oj Our Nation 

was a black circle. The earth was a straight line. The 
sky was a bow above the straight line. When the space 
between was white it meant daytime. When there were 
stars it was night. A point on the right of 
the bow meant sunrise; a point at the top 
curve, midday; a point on the left meant 
sunset. Waving lines between the bow 
and straight line meant rainy weather. 
NDiAN SIGN WRITING' And SO Hlawatha painted on the smooth 

white birch bark to preserve among the Iroquois the 
victories of their warriors, and the adventures of their 
hunters, and the visions of their prophets. 

It is tradition that Hiawatha lived for many years 
doing good among his people. When he saw his death 
approaching he called the Five Nations to a council. 
He told them he must leave them; but the Great Spirit 
would send a race of white men in canoes of thunder,' 
from across the morning water, who could teach them 
how to weave, and build warm houses, and till the 
. earth for grain and fruit. If they listened to these 
teachings, they would flourish like the leaves in spring- 
time; but if they heeded not the white men's wisdom, 
they would scatter like the leaves in autumn. 

It will be interesting to read whether the red men in 
America listened to the counsel of their prophet. 

Of Hiawatha's farewell to his people Longfellow 
says : 

1 Ships carrying guns. 

2 Translation : (i) Five canoes, bearing fifty-two warriors, the chief, 
Kishkcmunasee, or (2) the kingfisher, leading in the first canoe, with (5) 
Stealth, the panther and (6) Wisdom, the serpent. The crossing occupied 
three days — (3) three suns under a rainbow — when land [(7) the tortoise] 
was reached and the band advanced with courage [(4) the eagle]. 



Hiawatha's prophecy 



Hiawatha 13 

On the shore stood Hiawatha, Hiawatha's farewell 

Turned and waved his hand at parting; 



Launched his birch canoe for sailing, 

Whispered to it, "Westward! westward!" 

And the evening sun descending 

Left upon the level water 
One long track and trail of splendor, 
Down whose stream, as down a river. 
Westward, westward Hiawatha 

Sailed into the dusk of evening. 








MARCO POLO 
1254-1324 



The Grand Canal 



The commerce of 
Venice 



MARCO POLO 

THE FIRST GEOGRAPHER OF ASIA 

1254-1324 

ARCO POLO was a Venetian. Venice, 
you know, is a city in Italy and lies on 
islands in a great lagoon near the head 
of the Adriatic Sea. Most of 
the streets of Venice are 
canals, where boats are used 
;^. instead of wagons or cars. 

'■"- ' These canals are crossed by bridges, 
and the houses along the banks have one 
door opening upon a narrow pavement 
and another upon the water, so that 
people may go through the city on foot 
or in a boat, just as they please. 

The Grand Canal is the principal water-street of 
Venice. Whenever ships drop anchor at the foot of 
the Grand Canal, fleets of gondolas, which are long, 
narrow boats with high prows, dart from the smaller 
canals into this larger one to meet them. 

In the days of Marco Polo, huge warehouses rose 
at the water's edge near the end of the Grand Canal. 
Here the gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin; the pitch 
and dried fish and the hemp and raw wool from all 
over Europe lay waiting for the ships from the far- 
away East. And when the ships came, an exchange 
was made for gems, silks, carpets, and other manu- 
factured articles which Europeans had not yet learned 

14 



Marco Polo 



15 



to make ; and for the dye-woods and spices which were 
not yet grown in Europe. 

People in those days did not know anything about 
potatoes, and they cuUivated very few other vege- 
tables. Breadstuffs and meats required high season- 
ing to keep up an appetite. So there was a great 
demand for cloves, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, 
and other spices, not only those pleasant to the taste, 
but also those thought to heal diseases. Some of the 
spices were worth their weight in gold. 

Marco Polo liked nothing so much as to watch the 
ships, with the flag of St. Mark at their prows, sail up The flag of st. 
to the foot of the Grand Canal. The flag of St. Mark ^'""^ 

showed that the ships 
belonged to Venice. 
They came laden with 
wares from the East. 
Marco's father and 
uncle were merchants 
and had gone to the 
THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE East bcforc lic was old 

enough to know anything about it. Would they ever 
come back ? His grandmother sighed out that they had 
1)cen drowned in the Black Sea, or eaten by bears in * 

the forest beyond, or killed by robbers for the fine 
clothes they wore. 

But Marco could not believe that his father and 
uncle were dead. Day after day he paced up and down 
the Rialto over the Grand Canal. The Rialto was a xheRiaito 
curious arched bridge — high and broad with rows of 
booths where merchants traded, and Jews lent their 




i6 



Builders of Our A^ation 



[arco studies a 
lap of the world 




money, and sea captains just in from distant ports 
strolled to gossip about their voyages. The sea cap- 
tains petted the bright-eyed little fellow who trudged 
so constantly at their heels. But whenever he asked 
timid questions about the Black Sea and the forests 
beyond, where his father and uncle were lost, they shook 
their heads slowly and said: 

'' 'Tis a bad voyage, lad, for a white man to make!" 
And that always made Marco tremble and bite his lips 
so the tears would not come. 

When he grew older he studied a map in a shop on 
the Rialto. This is the kind of map it was — just 
Europe and the north end of Africa and the west 
end of Asia. That was all the people of Europe, 
even the wisest, then knew about the geography of 
the world. There was no Africa except near the 
coast, no Australia, New Zealand, Java, or Japan. 
There was no North or South America nor any 
Pacific Ocean. Yet to Marco the world seemed 
very big indeed. It took months and months for 
caravans of camels to bring the fine things of 
the East to the Black Sea or to the Mediterranean 
Sea, and then the slow-sailing ships were a long 
time getting to the warehouses at the foot of the 
Grand Canal. Yes, the world was large, and it seemed 
easy enough for a man to be lost in it. He said 
he would learn to be a merchant, and then he would 
sail to the Black Sea, and go on and on until he found 
his father. But he had hardly begun to know one 
kind of silk from another when his father and uncle 
came home. They said they had traveled far into the 



Marco Polo 



17 



1270 



East to the court of the Great Khan of China who had 
kept them in his service and then sent them away with 
rich gifts. 

The very next year Nicolo the father, MafSo the Marco Poio starts 
uncle, and Marco the son, who was then fifteen, set 
out together to trade where white men had never traded 
before. 

They went to Acre in Palestine, and then to the 
Caspian Sea. They followed the Oxus River and 
crossed the Desert of Kobi to a country of hills, where 
the Great Khan had a summer palace. The khan, 
which was the Tartar name for emperor, welcomed 
the father and the uncle with joy, for he had feared they 
would never return. 

"And who is this young stranger?" asked he, 
pointing to Marco, who was closely regarding his 
yellow skin and queer, slanting eyes. 

"My lord," replied Nicolo, "it is your servant, 
my son." 

"Then," said the khan, "he is welcome. I 
much pleased with the lad." 

When autumn came, the three Polos followed the 
court beyond the Great Wall of China to Pekin, where The Great waii 
the khan spent his winters. Marco, who was hand- 
some and clever, delighted all who knew him. He 
mastered the Chinese language and wore the Chinese 
dress, and studied Chine.se manners until no one 
appeared to such advantage as he. The khan trusted 
him and sent him on errands to the farthest cities in 
his empire. Whenever the young Venetian returned 
from a journey, he was able to give valuable informa- 




THE GREAT KHAN 



am 



Builders oj Our Nation 



War between Chin 
and Japan 




1295 
Marco Polo returns 
home 



Marco Polo gives a 
feast 



tion about the mountains and rivers and caravan routes 

he had seen. When China went to war with the Islands 

_. — of Japan he taught the Chinese armies 

how to make engines for throwing 

stones, and how to draw up in battle 

array as the armies of Europe did. 

Years came and went and still the 
three Polos did not return to Venice! 
The gossips on the Rialto said they 
must have been drowned in the sea or 
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA gatcn by bears in the forests beyond, or 

killed by robbers for the fine clothes they wore. 
Twenty-five years passed by. One day the Polos 
came home. The father and the uncle were then 
quite old; even Marco's dark curls were 
ning to show some white. All three wore 
clothes of a foreign cut, and were so changed in 
appearance that when they knocked at their door the 
relative who opened would not let them in. 

"No, no!" cried he. "Such fellows as you cannot 
be our rich cousins. No, no, you cannot impose upon 
us." 

The three turned away. They went to the finest 
hotel in the city. They ordered a dinner to which they 
invited all of their kinsmen. The slaves who carried 
the invitations brought back word that each one had 
said he would be pleased to meet such grand gentlemen 
merchants as their masters seemed to be. 

The three Polos, clad in velvet and lace, received 
their guests with low bows and soft speech, but they 
did not give their real names. After the feast was over 



begin- 
ragged 



Marco Polo 19 

and the slaves had withdrawn they went to an adjoin- 
ing room and brought forth a pile of coarse clothes. 

"These, our kindred," said they, "are the garments 
we wore coming home and you would not receive us." 

Without saying more they took knives and ripped 
open the rags. They pulled out rubies and diamonds 
and sapphires and pearls of great price. They heaped 
the gems upon the table before 
the astonished guests, who cried " "^sT^^W^^^y 
out that they must indeed be the i^Mi!^P$^l^5'./^ 
lost Polos — Maffio the uncle, Ni- 
colo the father, and Marco the son. 

And on the Rialto and in the 
palaces and in the hundreds of 
gondolas that sped through the 
canals, people talked of the wis- 
dom and wealth of the Polos. 
When the merchants of Venice ^ - a gondola 

came to the house to hear about their adventures, the 
uncle and the father always nodded to Marco. And 
Marco told how they had traveled on and on toward Marco Poio 

describes his 

the great northeast "for a thousand days," to the travels 
palace of the Great Khan. He told about China and 
caravan routes, and how they had at last left China by 
sea, escorting a princess who was to marry a king in 
a distant land, and how their ship sailed three months 
until they came to an island called Java, and how 
they passed over the Indian Sea and then went over-, 
land to Bagdad and then to Constantinople, whence 
they had set sail for Venice. He told about Sumatra 
and Borneo and the Spice Islands, and about Calicut 




20 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Marco Polo's Travels 



'Lord Millions' 



1298 
A war between 
Genoa and Venice 



in Malabar, where the finest cotton stuffs in the world 
were manufactured and where Chinese ships with mats 
for sails unloaded their cargoes of drugs, spices, cloth 
of silver, and gauzes of silk for Europe. He told 
about the unknown islands of Japan, where the king's 
palace was plated over with gold as the palaces of 
Europe's kings were plated with lead. Indeed, he 
talked so much about the splendor of courts, and the 
glory of temples and tombs, and used the word millions 




so often that the Venetians nicknamed him " Lord 
Millions." But the merchants of Venice agreed that 
he had done them great service, for he had made it pos- 
sible for thorn to send their own agents to the far-away 
East, instead of depending upon the AralDS. 

Now, Venice had a rival in trade. Genoa, on the 
west coast of Italy, also sent ships to the Black Sea, 
or to the cast shore of the Mediterranean, for spices 
and silks. Whenever the fleets of the rivals met, one 
was sure to give chase with every sail set. 



Marco Polo 



21 




One day it was called from gondola to gondola in 
all the canals of Venice that a Genoese fleet had entered 
the Adriatic Sea. That meant an attack on the city. 
There was bustle and noise in the water-streets. The 
people rushed to the square of St. Mark's, crying: "Viva 
San Marco!'" The doge, who was the mayor, called The doge 
the council to his palace. War- 
ships were manned, and merchant 
vessels were loaded with soldiers in 
armor instead of cargoes of spices 
and silk. Even the slim gondolas 
hoisted the flag of St. Mark, and 
marshaled in battle array at the 
end of the Grand Canal. 

Marco Polo was given command 
of one of the ships. He buckled a st. mark's, venice 

breastplate over his velvet gown, put on helmet and 
sword, and sailed straight to the front. His ship was 
a galley, long and wide with high, gilded beak. 
Trumpeters and men in bright armor and guns for 
throwing stones were at the prow, and at the stern stood 
Marco Polo and his officers. Between prow and stern, 
down in the waist of the ship, were long benches where 
Turkish slaves, chained close together, pulled at the 
oars; and between ran men to lash them into hotter 
haste. 

Out into the blue Adriatic sped the Venetian ships, 
with Polo quite to the front. "Viva San Marco!" he 
cried to his men who hurled stones from their guns. 
Now Polo had seen gunpowder in China, but its value Gunpowder la chim 
was not then known and it was used only for fireworks. 

I Long live St. Mark! 



Polo in command 
of a galley 



22 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Marco Polo a 
prisoner 



1200 
Marco Polo dictates 
a book 



1324 
Death of Marco Polo 



So he lost a fine opportunity to send the stones at long 
range. On he sped, as fast as the wind and the exer- 
tions of his slaves could drive the ship. He ran along- 
side a Genoese galley, threw out grappling irons, and 
leaped aboard. Foot to foot, blade to blade, he fought. 
One giant man in armor struck him a blow on the 
helmet, another thrust a sword through his thigh. His 
ship sprung a leak, his slaves, fearing drowning more 
than the lash of their masters, dropped their oars. A 
Genoese trumpeter sounded a call and two more of the 
enemy's ships ran up. Polo and his men and his trem- 
bling slaves were captured and taken to Genoa. They 
were all put into prison; but Marco Polo, being a dis- 
tinguished man, was given better quarters than the 
rest. 

As soon as it became noised about that the traveler 
who had seen the Great Khan was in prison, people 
flocked to his window bars to hear him talk. He had 
one of the Venetian prisoners write down what he said, 
and when at last he was permitted to return home, his 
book was copied by scribes.' 

The books of Marco Polo were bought at a high 
price by merchants and princes who wanted to find 
out all about Persia and Thibet and China and Japan 
and the Spice Islands. 

Marco Polo lived long in the lofty palace which you 
may see to this day in Venice. Even before he died 
the trade of Europe with the East grew vastly. Priests 
and embassies from kings traveled safely to the rich 
cities described by the "First Geographer of Asia." 



Thf art of printing was not yet known in Europe. 




The mariner's 
compass 



PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 

1394- 1460 

BOUT the time Marco Polo returned 
from Asia to show Europeans the 
land routes to the Spice Islands, 
the mariner's compass was per- 
fected. With the aid of the 
faithful compass, sailors felt 
pretty safe, whether the sky was fair 
or foul. Warriors and merchants and 
pirates and fishermen scoured every 
nook of the Mediterranean Sea. But a hundred years 
passed before ships ventured very far out on the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

Prince Henry the Navigator was the 
first prince of Europe to send ships to 
explore the ocean. Prince Henry's father 
was John the First, king of Portugal ; 
his mother was the beautiful Queen 
Philippa, granddaughter of Edward 
the Third of England, and his uncle 
was the "Black Prince," a famous 
English knight about whom poets 
loved to sing. 

Portugal faced the ocean with a long line of coast P°'''"sai 
and had tall, straight timber for ship-building; but 
whale oil and dried fish were about all that the ships 
brought into Lisbon. 

• Prince Henry heard at court a great deal of talk about 

23 




PRINCE HENRY 

THE NAVIGATOR 

1394-1460 



24 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Lisbon 




I4J5 
A war on the Moors 



Prince Henry sees 
riches from the 
East 



the splendors of Venice and Genoa. His mother, the 
queen, said England had warehouses there, though Lis- 
bon was a nearer port and might well be the 
center of trade for all Europe. 

The merchants of Portugal had tried over 
and over again to get a share in the trade of 
the far-away East. They would set sail from 
Lisbon or Oporto bravely enough, steer straight 
south, close to shore, and then dart through 
the Strait of Gibraltar' into the Mediterranean 
Sea. But they were sure to be chased out by 
the Italians, who wanted the trade for them- 
selves. 

When Prince Henry was still quite young he sailed 
away with his father to make war on the Moors. The 
Moors were Arabs who had conquered the north coast 
of Africa and a good part of Spain, and were trying to 
conquer Portugal. The Portuguese army embarked for 
the north coast of Africa to lay siege to Ceuta, a rich 
Moorish port. 

After many weeks the gates were torn down, and 
Prince Henry was one of the first to enter the city. The 
streets were flowing with honey and oil from the jars 
that had been broken during the siege; and bales of 
silk, caskets of jewels, and boxes of spices and perfumes 
that had come from the East were piled in confusion 
under the broken roofs of the houses. 

Prince Henry was amazed at the vast store of treasure 
he saw. 

"If our merchants might only trade with that far- 



' .Sec map. 



Prince Henry the Navigator 25 

away East!" he sighed. But he knew very well that it 
was of little use to try to compete with the countries 
that bordered upon the Mediterranean Sea, and he 
kept wondering if there were not some other route to 
the Spice Islands. 

Kino; John was so proud of his son's prowess during ^"^"^^ H^f^y '^ 

1 -1 1 11- 1-1 Vta. ^""^^ ^ •'"'s^' 

the siege that he made him a knight, and Prince Henry 

chose for his motto "Ze talent de Men jaire,^^ which may 

perhaps be best translated: "The desire to do a thing Prince Henry's motto 

well." Now the thing Prince Henry wanted to do 

more than all others was to find a water-way to the 

Spice Islands. 

As soon as he reached Lisbon he called the chief 
merchants together. 

"We have carried our armies into this sea that you 
fear," he said. "Now push on to its east shore with 
your ships." 

The men shook their heads. 

"We have tried it, your highness," thev said; and P'^'"" Hem-y talks 

. . ^ ' with the sailors 

they told very sad stories, indeed, of plundered cargoes 
and ships destroyed. 

"Is there no other way?" asked the prince. "A 
straight way to India by water ? 'Twould be cheaper 
than the caravan route." 

"To the north, around England, the ice blocks the 
way." 

"To the south around Africa then?" ideas about Africa 

"No ships sail beyond Cape Non, my lord." 

"And why not beyond ?" 

"The ocean boils!" cried one merchant. 

"Hot-water monsters puff steam from their noses 
and swallow a ship at a gulp!" cried another. 



26 



Builders of Our Nation 



Prince Henry 
establishes a 
school of 

navigation at Point 
St. Vincent 



Marco Polo's book 



''Aye, aye, your highness," cried a third, ''and 
Africa has no end." 

"Oh, no man can sail around Africa!" they all 
cried in a breath. 

Now Prince Henry could not argue the question 
with these merchants, for he really knew nothing to say. 
But he resolved from that moment to find out what he 
could about that vast mysterious ocean which stretched 
so far to the west and south. He went to Point St. 
Vincent on the south coast of Portugal. And there 
upon a rocky headland against which the ocean beat 
upon three sides he built a high tower. Then he sent 
to several foreign countries for teachers in map-drawing 
and ship-building and the arts of navigation. He spent 
his days in hard work. Young noblemen and plain 
seamen from all over Europe soon flocked to Point St. 
Vincent to study navigation. It was said that Prince 
Henry's court of the sea rivaled his father's court of 
fashion. 

One happy day his brother, Pedro the Traveler, 
brought him a copy of ]\Iarco Polo's book. He read 
all about China, Japan, and the Spice Islands, and 
was more determined than ever to find a way to the 
East. 

Now, the north shore of Africa lay almost in sight 
of the high tower where Prince Henry kept daily watch. 
Did Africa stretch on and on without any end, as the 
merchants believed ? One old Greek book said that 
Africa might be an island. If it should prove to be an 
island then ships might sail around it. 

Prince Henry drew maps. He adjusted new instru- 



Prince Henry the Navigator 



1420 

The Madeira Islands 



ments for fixing the position of the sun and the stars. 
He sent ship after ship from the nearby seaport of 
Lagos. Sometimes the pilots steered to the west. 
They rediscovered the IMadeira Islands and the Azores "discovered by the 

-' rortuguese 

which were soon after settled by the Portuguese. But 

the ocean seemed very dangerous so far from the main- ^""^ '^^°''''' 

land. The pilots preferred to sail nearer shore. They 

pushed farther and farther down the coast of Africa 

until one pilot sailed beyond Cape Non. No one, to capeNon 

any man's knowledge, had ever before gone 

so far south. 

^'Did the water boil before your ship ?" 
asked Prince Henry, when the pilot made 
his report. 

"No, your highness. Yet 'tis quite as 
far as any sailor should go," replied the 
pilot. And he told how a little beyond the 
cape a good Christian turned so black that 
his own wife and child would not know him. 

The prince scoffed at such superstition. 
Sometimes he threatened and sometimes he praised. 
On down the African coast crept the timid pilots, until 
they passed Cape Bojador. They landed below the 
cape and discovered a race of negroes, as black 
as night, with thick lips and hair like black 
wool. They found ivory and gold dust and 
nuts. When the ships returned to Portugal 
with slaves and gold and ivory, such as were 
sold in the markets of the Mediterranean, p 
the whole kingdom of Portugal was thrown ' 
into a ferment of joy. A ship soon passed 







1 


i 1 


i AZORES 




I 


. ? 1 


«^^,S.*.OJ 


c 


Lieao'^ 


C t .' 


- ^ . 


\ 


LJS» 


n^ 


;*' 




ftS^"'""' 


X'T 


K 




/ 


/ 




" „MADElfiA t^' 


,y 




<=1. 






^ 


j ISLANDS / 


^ 


^ 


/iCANARY 


•^y 


<o 


V 


'A cJ:"!^ -^ 1 


K ^ 


7 


^ 




'f 


C^pt ] 






^ «v 


eci.nia' 


^ 







( 











'^ 












c v,m{ 







1434 

Cape Bojador 




AFRICAN NEGRO 



28 



Builders of Our Nation 



1445 

Cape Verde rounded 



1460 
Death of Prince 
Henry 



Vasco da Gama 



Christopher 
Columbus 



Cape Verde, and the Portuguese trade increased until 
a little black slave was leading the horse of nearly every 
rich man in Europe. When it was found that the 
coast beyond Cape Verde trended eastward Prince 
Henry's hope rose higher still. But he died at Point 
St. Vincent before his sailors' had found the real length 
of Africa. 

Prince Henry was buried with pomp in the monas- 
tery of Baratha by the side of his mother, the queen. 
Over his tomb lies his statue in full armor. His motto 
is inscribed above: "Le talent de bien jaire^^ (The 
desire to do a thing well), which had been the secret 
of his success — a success so great that it continued 
many years after his death. In Prince Henry's school 
at Point St. Vincent, Vasco da Gama studied, who 
found the water-route to the Spice Islands and thus 
moved the trade with the East from the Mediterranean 
Sea to the Atlantic Ocean ; and there, too, studied Chris- 
topher Columbus, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean, 
discovered America, and pointed a way to others who 
sailed around the whole globe. 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

THE DISCOVERER OF AMERICA 

I 436-1 506 

HILE Prince Henry the Naviga- 
tor's ships were searching for an 
end to Africa, Christopher Colum- 
bus was born in Genoa, Italy. 
Christopher's two brothers were Barthol- 
omew and Diego. The boys became 
sailors at an early age and had many a 
trip on the blue Mediterranean Sea. Some- 
times they were in sea fights with the sailors 
of Venice; for Genoa on the west coast 
of Italy and Venice on the east 
coast were such rivals in trade that 
when their merchant fleets met, one 
would very often go staggering back 
to port, while the other sailed tri- 
umphantly on for its cargo of spices 
and silks. 

Genoa was a beautiful city 
perched on sloping hills that over- 
looked a bay. Even the poor of Genoa had enough 
to wear and to eat; because the climate was so mild, 
and olives, fruit, and fish were to be had almost for the 
asking. 

The Columbus boys laughed when they heard how 
people to the north of the Alps had to wear ill- 
smelling furs in winter and crouch about fires while 



1436 

Christopher Columbus 
born in Genoa 




Rivalry between 
Genoa and Venice 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 
1436-1506 



29 



30 



Builders of Our Nation 



England 



Marco Polo's prison 



1453 
The Turks conquer 
Constantinople 



Christopher and 
Bartholomew go to 
Point St. Vincent 




THE BAY OF GENOA 



the black smoke' made the tears run down their cheeks. 
They heard that England, far to the north, had nothing 
but dried fish and raw wool and tin to exchange for 
the rich things of Italy. .^ 
Who wanted to live in 
such a poor country as 
that ? Not the Columbus 
boys, indeed ! 

They were proud of 
Genoa's great trade with 
the East. They loved to 
stroll past the prison 
where IMarco Polo had 
written his wonderful book about China, Japan, and 
the Spice Islands, and to lie in the sun on the wharf 
to watch the ships sail in and out of the bay. 

But while the boys were still in their teens a change 
came to the proud city of Genoa. The Turks con- 
quered Constantinople and a whole fleet of ships came 
up the bay with empty holds and drooping flags. The 
Turks had demanded such high toll that trade on the 
Black Sea meant ruin. 

The Columbus brothers knew that if Genoa suc- 
ceeded in the Mediterranean Sea, she must have better 
sailors than Venice, and they decided to study naviga- 
tion. 

Now the best naval school in Europe was one which 
Henry the Navigator had founded at Point St. Vincent.^ 
Bartholomew went first to Portugal, and two years 
later Christopher went. They studied chart-making 
and ship-building. They made voyages to the Azores 

I Chimneys were not yet invented. = Sec map, p. 24. 



Christopher Columbus 31 

and to the Canaries. Once they went down the coast 
of Guinea, and as they sailed they talked about Prince 
Henry's belief that ships might sail around Africa. 
Bartholomew could think of nothing else but trying to 
reach India by sailing south. But Christopher had 
other notions. 

He had begun to believe that the world was a globe Christopher studies 
instead of being flat, for he had read a book by the ^^"^''^ ^ 
great English traveler. Sir John Mandeville, who said 
it seemed possible for a man to sail on and on until 
he would reach at last the place from which he had 
started. Now, the teachers of navigation made no 
mention of Sir John's theory. They believed the world 
stretched out to four corners and was bounded on all 
sides by an endless sea. 

Christopher Columbus thought over the question 
quite seriously. He made a voyage to the north, where 
he heard that Leif the Lucky had once sailed west Leif the Lucky 
from Greenland to a land of vines and flowers. What [^^^^^ ^' "^ 
land could that be? He heard in the Azores that 
canes of enormous size, such as Marco Polo said grew 
in India, had washed to shore with a western wind; 
and at Las Flores the bodies of two dead men with 
broad faces like those described in Marco Polo's book Messages from the 
had drifted in. It is tradition, too, that on a high hill 
in Corvo, of the Azores, was the statue of a man on a 
horse, carved out of solid rock. No one knew how or 
when the statue was placed there. The man's left 
hand lay on the horse's mane, and his right hand 
pointed toward the west as if to something beyond the 
mist of the sea. It was said that this statue had 



32 



Builders of Our Nation 



1474 

Toscanelli's letter 



King John of 
Portugal 



1484 
Columbus quits 
Portugal 



pointed thus for ages and ages, but Columbus was the 
first of all men to understand what it meant. 

However all this may be, the more Christopher 
thought and studied, the more convinced he became 
that there was land to the west, and that the land was 
India. He wrote to Toscanelli, an Italian geographer, 
to ask what he thought. Toscanelli replied that he 
truly believed the Spice Islands might be reached by 
sailing due west three thousand miles from Lisbon, and 
he sent a map of eastern Asia which he had drawn 
from Marco Polo's description of that region. Colum- 
bus hastened to King John with Toscanelli's letter and 
map. 

"Three thousand miles, your majesty," he said. 
"The great geographer believes it. The way around 
Africa, if it is ever found, will be much farther than 
that." 

King John had high hopes of reaching the Indies 
by the African route and would not promise aid, but 
he had copies made from the chart of Columbus and 
secretly sent men of his own to the west. The sailors 
soon put back to port. They said that beyond the 
Azores, monsters had risen out of a "sea of darkness," 
and vast shadows had warned them back. 

When Columbus found out that the king had de- 
ceived him he quit Portugal in disgust. If Bartholo- 
mew tried to persuade him to give up his notion and to 
embark in the African expedition he must have replied : 
"No, no, my brother, you may sail south and I will 
sail west. We shall see who comes back first from 
the East." 



Christopher Columbus 



33 



We may well l^elieve he spoke thus, for he shook the 
dust of Portugal from his feet and went to his birthplace 

^ ^ Columbus goes to 

for aid in his plans. The Council of Genoa could give Genoa 
him no hope. They said the city was growing poorer 
and poorer since Constantinople belonged to the Turks, 
and Genoa had no money to spend on experiments. 

Then Columbus went to Venice, but the Venetians coiumbus goes to 

V'enice 

said India was nearer Italy by the overland route than 
it could possibly be by way of the "sea of darkness." 1484 
Columbus accordingly went to Spain, where he sought spain 
an audience with the king and queen. Now Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella had been watching the expeditions 
of King John. They knew very well that if the Portu- 
guese found a water-way to the East they would quickly 
become the richest nation in Europe. 

"Let King John go on sailing south," they said. 
"Who knows but that there is a shorter way by the 
west ?" 

Their majesties ac- 
cordingly summoned a 
council of wise men at 
Salamanca. Columbus 
appeared before the 
council. He was tall and 
dignified in his bearing; _^ 
his face was ruddy, his a- 
eyes were a piercing 
gray, and his hair fell in 
waving locks to his 
shoulders. He carried a 

globe in one hand and in the other he held Toscanelli's 
letter and map. 



The Council of 
Salamanca 




COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA 



34 



Builders of Our Nation 




Spain at war with 
the Moors 



Boabdil 



You can almost sec him bow very low to the coun- 
cil, for they were thought to be very wise men, indeed. 
?Ie read the great geographer's letter, and talked about 
the queer, round globe, which none of the wise men 
had ever seen before. He told them just what he 
believed about land in the far west. 

The "wise" men of Salamanca listened and shook 
their puzzled heads. They said it was quite impos- 
sible that the earth could be round, for then people 
on the under side would walk with their heels up 
and heads down, and it must rain, snow, and hail 
from the bottom side up. They declared it was 
beneath the dignity of their majesties to believe such 
nonsensical stories. As the Genoese sailor left their 
august presence you can almost see them tap on their 
foreheads and wink at one another as if they thought 
his mind was not quite right. 

Now Ferdinand and Isabella were so anxious to 
reach India before King John that they might have 
lent aid in spite of the council, had it not been for a 
war with the Moors. The Moors were Arabs who 
had conquered a part of Spain hundreds of years before. 
Some of the Moors were great scholars, but none of 
them believed in the Christian religion, and they were 
not willing to acknowledge Ferdinand and Isabella as 
their king and queen. 

Just at this time a bitter war was raging with 
Boabdil, the Moorish king of Granada. Isabella said 
that Spain might possibly give ships for an expedition 
to the west after the Moors were defeated. 

Columbus the Italian, with new hope in his heart, 
followed the court from camp to camp. 



Christopher Columbus 



35 



Presently news spread over all Europe and into the 
royal tents that Bartholomew Diaz had sailed in a 
Portuguese ship five thousand miles to the end of Africa, 
and had seen an open water-way to the far East. ^486 

. 1 •! 1 ^ f • Diaz reaches Cape 

"Five thousand miles to the end of Africa, your of Good Hope 
majesties!" cried Columbus, "and then perhaps five 
thousand more to reach the Indian ports. See, your 
majesties, Toscanelli says that only three thousand 
miles to the west lie these Spice Islands. Let Spain 
sail west while Portugal tries to sail east!" 

It was a great temptation to Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Portugal was already growing rich in the slaves and ivory 
and gold dust of Africa. A cheap route to India would 
make King John a dangerous neighbor. Their majesties 
finally promised that when the war was over they would 
fit out three ships to explore the "sea of darkness." 

The Moors were conquered at last. Columbus 
watched the triumphal procession of Ferdinand as it Ferdinand and 
passed through the streets of Granada, 
pages in gold-embroidered dresses, and ministers of 
state in gorgeous attire, and King Ferdinand himself 
in a royal mantle of crimson, which almost concealed 
his gold-harnessed horse, and Spanish nobles in silver 
armor and nodding plumes, and then fair Queen 
Isabella with her pages and dames. 

Trumpets sounded, horses pranced, ban- 
ners fluttered, and the conquered Boabdil, 
all dressed in black, rode toward the king. 
He reined in his horse at Ferdinand's side. 
He bowed very low, and with a flush of 
shame upon his haughty brow he gave up 



There were ^-^^^d'^ ™"^"« 

the Aloors 




THE SANTA MARIA 



36 



Builders oj Our Nation 



I4Q2 
Columbus sails from 
Palos (Aug .i) 





the keys of his beloved city, and laid aside shield and 
lance. Then with downcast eyes he again bowed low, 
and passed slowly along the road which would lead 
him out of Spain. 

Columbus now renewed his entreaties for ships and 
at last, from the harbor of Palos — Oh joy for the whole 
world! — the Santa Maria, which Columbus himself 
commanded, the Pinta, and the Nina, which 
means the "baby," sailed for the waters where the 
sun seemed to set. 

It is said that Columbus bore with him Marco 
Polo's book, so that he might locate Pekin and 

i;^:^\<;!^ _the other cities he would visit, and that he car- 

- ried a letter from Ferdinand addressed to the 
Chinese khan, the descendant of Marco Polo's 
friend. You see, he thought the round world 
was smaller than it is, and did not dream that 
two great continents of North and South 
America lay between Europe and Asia. And Tos- 
canelli, the greatest geographer of his age, 
did not dream of that, cither. 

The sailors on the three ships bore 
themselves bravely enough until they left 
the Canaries. Then the weakest hearts 
began to beat very fast. Columbus sailed 
on and on through unknown seas. Nine 
days passed with the winds blowing 
steadily from the east. The sailors swore 
,^ ^,„^, that with an east -blowing wind they 

H E P I N TA o J 

could never sail back home. Even the 
stoutest hearts began to quake. 



the 



Christopher Columbus 37 

Some scoffed at their commander behind his back. 
They said he might just as well try to find land in the 
sky as in that trackless sea. 

Columbus kept watching well his course. When 
the wind blew from the southwest the men cried out 
that now was the chance to start home. But Columbus 
sailed on and on. One desperate sailor whispered 
that if he might fall into the sea while looking at his 
stars, the ships could turn about; but the commander's 
courage and dignity kept him from harm. 

Some crabs, clinging to sea moss, floated past; the 
excited crew said the crabs must come from a shore. 
Then land-birds were seen, and Columbus turned 
his prow to the southwest to follow their flight. 

*'Land!" shouted the eager-eyed crews more than 
once. They had seen only clouds. All kept anxiously 
watching. The king had promised a purse of gold 
to the sailor who should first see land, and Columbus 
had promised a velvet cloak. 

A carved stick washed up against the Pinta, and 
to the Nina floated the branch of a haw tree, with 
bright berries on it. Then the Santa Maria entered 
the chase. One night as Columbus stood at the prow 
of the Santa Maria he saw a li^ht which flickered ^ /■^''- 

'~^ Columbus discovers 

back and forth like a torch in the hand of a man who '^nd (Oct. 21) 
runs. 

The following morning, Friday, October 21, 1492, 
at two o'clock in the morning, the Pinta signaled 
''land" to the two other ships. No one slept after 
that. Day broke. Green hills and valleys lay in 
sight. Men were seen running along the shore. Land 



38 



Builders of Our Nation 



San Salvador 



Indians 



and human beings — friends perhaps! The crews 
burst forth into hymns of praise, and tears streamed 
down many a storm-beaten cheek. 

Columbus, in crimson silk and shining armor, 
landed with his men all in gala dress. He spread out 
the banner of Spain and knelt down on the beach in 
prayer. He named the island San Salvador (Holy 
Savior), and the strange, red-skinned, half-naked 
natives who presently crowded about him, he called 
''Indians," because he believed he had reached India. 

Now, these natives 
had been watching 
his ship almost as 
long as he had been 
watching their island. 
When they saw the 
sails in the night, they 
thought they were great 
white spirits sweeping 
past. At dawn they 
thought they were the 
wings of giant birds 
skimming over the morning sea. When the sails fell, and 
as the black hulls of the ships drew near, they thought 
whales from the deep were swimming to shore. And 
when on nearer view they saw men clad in armor that 
shone like the sun, with pale faces and blue eyes, they 
cried aloud that the gods had come at last, and now 
their corn would be in plenty, and their rivers would 
abound in fish, and the forests would fail not in game. 
But for all their delight they were afraid at first and 
hid in the forest. 




THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 



Christopher Columbus 



39 



Presently they approached with offerings of maize. 
Columbus gave them bright-colored caps for their bare 
heads, and strings of glass beads and bells. Some of 
the men wore gold ornaments in their noses. They 
told Columbus by signs that the gold was from the 
south, and they said "Cubanacan, Cubanacan," "Cubanacan' 
which meant "a part of Cuba," but Columbus was 
sure they were talking about Marco Polo's "Great 
Khan," and hurried away much rejoiced. 

He coasted along the north edge of Cuba. On cuba 
Havana Bay you may see 
today a little white chapel 
which is believed to be over 
the spot where Columbus 
first said mass on that 
island. He heard of a great 
city farther inland, which 
he thought might be Pekin. 
But the ambassadors he 
sent to announce his arrival 
returned saying they could 
find only fifty rude huts. 

Columbus maintained columbus chapel on havana bay 

nevertheless that he had reached China, and he made 
his men say, under pain of the lash, that, if he chose, 
he could go on west to Spain as Marco Polo had gone 
to Venice. 

Columbus sailed to the island of Hayti. Here he Hayu 
constructed a fort out of the timbers of the Santa 
Maria, which was wrecked, and his men built a boat 
to navigate the surrounding waters, with sails and 
masts and bolts and cables— a wonderful sight to the 




40 



Builders of Our Nation 



Columbus sails for 
Spain 



1493 
Columbus reaches 
the harbor of Palos 
(Mar. is) 

Ferdinand and 
Isabella receive 
Columbus 

The parade 



Indians who watched them at their work. Columbus 
left forty men in charge of the fort and set sail in the 
Nina for home. 

The return was so stormy that once he thought 
the ship would go down. The heroic man resolved 
that his discovery should not be lost to the world. He 
accordingly wrote two accounts of his voyage, wrapped 
them in wax, and enclosed each in a cask. One of the 
casks he threw overboard, and the other he kept on 
the ship. 

The Nina, which had become separated from the 
Pinta, reached the harbor of Palos in safety. From 
there Columbus hastened to Barcelona, where Fer- 
dinand and Isabella were holding court. 

He made a public entry into the city. First marcned 
tall, straight Indians, smeared with paint and dressed 

in feathers and skins, and 
bracelets and rings of 
gold. No one had ever 
seen anything like them. 
Behind these came sailors 
with baskets filled with 
small gold trinkets, and 
bits of carved wood, and 
woven mats, and birds 
of rare plumage, both 
stuffed and alive. Co- 
lumbus himself came last, 
mounted on a horse, and 
with him rode many gentlemen of the court. 

The king and queen rose from the throne when he 




PROCESSION OF COLUMBUS 



Christopher Columbus 41 

entered the room where they sat, and he was allowed 
to sit in their presence while he told of the lands where 
it was summer in midwinter, with song-birds and 
flowers of rare tints and fruits of sweet flavor, quite 
as we find the West Indies now. 

He spoke of rivers with sands of gold, and towns 
where the housetops shone with the precious metal. 
To be sure he had not seen such towns, but the trinkets 
he had found tended to prove that somewhere every- 
thing was just as the natives seemed to say by the signs 
they had made. 

Columbus was called the "admiral;" his praises Admiral coiumbus 
were put into verse and sung on the streets; when he 
walked about, men said "All hail!" to him as if he 
were a Spanish grandee, and his two sons were made 
pages at court. 

Everybody believed that Columbus had found the 
east coast of China, and all the nobles of Spain were 
eager to explore the lands of the Great Khan. 

Now the Portuguese king had not yet found a way 
to the Spice Islands. Ferdinand and Isabella accord- 
ingly were in haste to fit out another expedition. 
Fifteen hundred men, in seventeen ships, embarked on 
a second voyage. Columbus visited the Windward coiumbus starts on 
Islands and Jamaica and Porto Rico. """TsepJ.Tsr 

When he reached Hayti he found the fort he had left 
in charge of forty men quite deserted and overgrown 
with weeds. The Indians said part of the men had 
died with a fever and the rest had wandered away. 
He built a little town in Hayti, which he called Isabella, The town of 
in honor of the queen, and placed his brother Diego 



42 



Builders of Our Nation 



Bartholomew 

Columlius joins 
his brothers 



Bartholomew is 
appointed lieutenant- 
governor of the 
West Indies 

1496 
Columbus returns 
to Spain (June 11) 



1407 
John Cabot's voyage 
to North America 



in command. Then for many months he cruised about 
the West Indies, which he still believed to be the East 
Indies, but he found neither gold nor spices of value. 

When he returned to Isabella, he saw his brother 
Bartholomew, which surprised and delighted him 
greatly. Many years before Columbus had sent Bar- 
tholomew to England to enlist the interest of King 
Henry VII in a voyage of discovery, and he had not seen 
him for so long that he may have thought he was dead. 

Bartholomew told how he had started for England, 
had been captured by pirates, and had finally reached 
Lisbon just in time to sail with Diaz down the African 
coast. We may be sure that Columbus asked him 
about the Cape of Good Hope and the open sea that 
lay beyond. 

"There is no doubt but that the Portuguese will 
one day reach the Indies," said Bartholomew. 

"Ah, my brother," said Columbus, "but I have 
already reached them. All that remains is to find the 
great cities." 

He appointed Bartholomew lieutenant-governor of 
all the lands he had discovered and returned again to 
Spain. But, the chests he had taken with him for gold 
were quite empty and the Indian slaves he brought 
back died one by one. 

Perhaps Ferdinand would have hesitated to spend 
any more money on voyages if he had not heard what 
had been done by King Henry VII. The Spanish 
ambassador at the English court wrote that John Cabot 
claimed to have sailed west to Asia and had brought 
back a large queer -looking fowl which they called a 



Christopher Columbus 43 

turkey because they believed it had been found in the 
land' of the Turks. 

Now this news made Ferdinand more eager than 
ever to reach the ports of India. With England search- 
ing west and Portugal searching south there was danger 
of quite losing the trade. 

Columbus accordingly set sail with six ships for a coiumbus starts on 
third voyage. He discovered the mouth of the Orinoco '"^ '(MayToT 
River in South America, but finding little gold and no 
populous cities he went to Hayti, where his brother 
Bartholomew had founded Santo Domingo. To this 
day a part of Hayti is called Santo Domingo, after the 
town that Bartholomew Columbus built. 

The admiral found things were going badly in Santo 
Domingo. There had been trouble with the Indians, 
and the settlers were quarreling with one another. He 
stayed two years on the island trying to set things in 
order. At length an officer of Spain came to examine 
the affairs of the colony. He put Columbus and Bar- 
tholomew in chains and sent them as prisoners to coiumbus in chains 
Spain. Ferdinand ordered their chains taken off, and 
when Christopher told the story of his wrongs to Isa- 
bella, tears came to her eyes, so that he himself broke 
down and wept at her feet. 

Perhaps the admiral would not have been sent on 
another search if the Portuguese had not reached India. 
The Spanish ambassador at Lisbon wrote that Vasco 
da Gama had reached Calicut at last. He had loaded vasco da cama 
his ship with treasure and King John's income from ''^'''^''^^ *^^''™* 
the Calicut trade would soon make him the richest 
prince in Europe. 

' This was probably Cape Breton Island. 



44 



Builders of Our Nation 



1502 

Columbus starts on 
his {ourth voyage 



1504 
Columbus returns to 
Spain (Nov. 7) 



1506 
Death of Columbus 
(May 20) 



Fcrdinanci and Isabella decided to try once more to 
find a short way to the East. They summoned Colum- 
bus to court. 

"Sail for Calicut," they commanded, "and this 
time fail us not." 

Columbus had seen in his former voyage how the 
north coast of South America extended westward. 
He had a theory that by sailing along its northern 
coast he might come to a strait through which he could 
sail to Calicut. 

The faithful Bartholomew cast his fortune again 
with Columbus, and the two brothers sailed west with 
four ships. Columbus steered to the Caribbean Sea. 
He reached the Isthmus of Panama, not very far from 
the place where our Panama Canal will be. 

He found no strait. There was gold in greater 
quantities than he had ever found before, and the 
natives told him of rich mines in the mountains. But 
it was Calicut he sought, and for many weary days he 
coasted in search of a strait. On his way home he 
was shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica, where he 
spent a year. At last, disappointed at every turn, he 
made his way back to Spain. The queen, his only 
protector, died shortly after. The king, quite out of 
patience with his admiral, allowed him to die neglected 
and alone. 

The great discoverer was buried at Valladolid. A 
few years later, when the treasures of Peru and Mexico 
were pouring into the golden tower of Seville, his 
remains were carried to that city with pomp. A 
marble slab on his tomb bore the words: 



of the discovery of 
America 



Christopher Columbus 45 

A Castilla y a Leon 
Nuevo Mundo dio Colon. 
(Columbus gave a new world to Castile and Leon.) 

Later, as we shall see, his body was moved to the 
West Indies and then back again to Spain. So that 
even with death the voyages of the great admiral did 
not cease. 

The whole world remembered him in 1892 and The 400th anniversary 
T893. Those were the anniversaries of his discovery. 
On August 3, 1892, fleets from England, France, Portu- 
gal, Mexico, the United States, and other countries 
assembled at the port of Palos. They drew up in 
two lines, and out from between them sped three small 
sailships, the exact reproductions of the Santa Maria, 
the Pinta, and the Nina. Presently the Nina returned 
alone, as the Nina had returned bravely bearing the 
news of a new world— a little, little ship among the 
mighty men-of-war which boomed forth volleys of 
welcome. 

At Chicago, where a "World's Fair" was held, 
these copies of the three sailships were presented to 
the government of the United States to be preserved 
as relics. You rnay see today, pulling at their anchors 
on the edge of Lake Michigan, the Santa Maria, the 
Pinta, and the Nina, much as they looked when Chris- 
topher Columbus, the Genoese pilot, first dared the 
waves of the western sea. 




Don Pedro de 
Avila 



FERNANDO DE SOTO 

THE DISCOVERER OF THE MISSISSIPPI 
1500-1542 

Fernando de soto lived in a 

^, ' -^ lonesome castle in Spain. His father 

^■M^l^^ was of noble birth, but had spent his 

fortune in wars with the Moors so that 

he could not send his son to the school 

where noblemen's sons usually went. 

In this gray, tumble-down castle the 
days passed drearily enough for Fer- 
nando, until he heard about Christopher Columbus and 
his voyages. Then he had a great deal to think about. 

He said he would some day go to 
America. He would find gold enough 
there to restore the De Soto family to its 
old time splendor, and have a long 
train of servants like his father's rich 
friend, Don Pedro de Avila. 

Now Fernando knew very well that 
only the strongest and bravest could 
get passage to the new world on the 
king's ships. He practiced riding until he seemed 
a part of his horse when it pranced under the great stone 
gate and off down the highway. He exercised at 
leaping and fencing until he could use his sword as 
well as any Spanish grandee. 

One day Don Pedro de Avila saw the lad handle his 
sword, and he said right away that he would give him 

46 




FERNANDO DE SOTO 
1500-1542 



Fernando De Soto 



47 




a chance to become a true knight. So Fernando was 
sent to school, where he took all the prizes for riding, 
leaping, and fencing. 

When he was fourteen he went with Don Pedro to 
the Isthmus of Panama. Everyone believed there 
were gold mines in Panama, but the 
Indians would not tell where they 
were. 

Fernando saw his countrymen 
coming to the isthmus by shiploads, 
with armies of soldiers that the king 
sent to protect them. It was not 
very long before he was made cap- 
tain of a troop of horse, and his lance was counted 
equal to ten. 

One l^rave man he met in the new world was Balboa, 
who had once lived in Hayti. Balboa had left that 
island without any money. He had hid behind some 
casks on a ship just as it was setting sail. A storm 
tossed the ship upon the sea until it was driven to the 
coast of Panama, where the Spanish settlements were, 
Balboa landed with the rest, and by the time Fernando 
met him he had become one of the chief men on the 
isthmus. He told Fernando how he had climbed to 
the top of a mountain and had seen to the south a vast 
blue sea like the Atlantic Ocean; and how he had 
traveled to its shoie and waded into the waters with 
the gold and crimson banner of Spain in the one hand 
and his sword in the other, and in the name of King 
Ferdinand had taken possession of the water and all the 
land which bordered upon it.' 

I This was the Pacific Ocean. 



15 14 
Fernando goes to 
tliL Isthmus of 
P.inaiTia 



15 13 
Balboa discovers the 
Parific Ocean 



48 



Builders of Our Nation 



xSt6 
King Charles I 
ascends the throne 
of Spain 



El Dorado 



Magellan's ships 
sail around the 
globe 



The king in Spain at this time was Charles, the son 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, who was even more anxious 
than his royal parents to make Spain the greatest king- 
dom in Europe. "Gold! gold!" King Charles kept 
calling to his nobles, and every man of them knew 
that the first who should find the mines would be given 
a high place at court. 

Balboa said some natives on the shore of the South 
Sea had talked about El Dorado (the gilded one), a 
country which took its name from an Indian king who 
worshiped the Sun in a temple of gold. Once every 
year slaves rubbed El Dorado in oil and powdered him 
over with gold dust. Then with precious jewels in his 
hands he entered a canoe and was rowed out upon a 
lake by slaves. In the presence of all his people he 
cast the jewels into the water as an offering to the Sun 
which they worshiped, and then he himself plunged 
into the water which lapped off the gold from his body. 
Some Spaniards said El Dorado was to the north ; others 
said it was to the south, and in their mad search for 
gold and adventure they explored all the coasts of the 
Caribbean Sea. 

]\Ieantime Magellan, a Portuguese, had sailed from 
Spain in five Spanish ships to see what he might find 
for the king. He swept down the coast of Brazil, and 
on past Patagonia till he reached Balboa's "South 
Sea, " which he called the Pacific because it was so calm. 
On he went over the watery way, steering to the north- 
west, till he came to the islands which he called the 
"Ladrones" (Robber Islands) because an Indian there 
stole one of his rowboats. 



Fernando De Soto 



49 




The Aztecs 



Magellan discovered an island in the group after- The Philippines 
wards named the Philippines, and was killed by the 
natives near the island of Cebu.' 

After his death one of the ships sailed on under 
another's command, passed the Cape of Good 
Hope, and reached Spain at last, proving to the 
world that the earth is round and that the 
East Indies could be reached by sailing west, 
though the way was very long. 

The same year that this news reached Panama, word ^521 

Hernando Cortez 

came that Hernando Cortez had sailed from Cuba to conquers Mexico 
Vera Cruz; had burned his ships so that his men could 
not desert him; marched over mountains and through 
valleys and reached a city called Mexico,^ where the 
montezuma, king of the Aztecs, lived. 

What stories were told in Panama about this 
country to the north that Cortez had found ! 

Cortez, who had not yet heard about Magel- 
lan's voyage around the world, was quite sure 
that Mexico was China; for there were tem.ples 
and palaces adorned with silver and gold, and 
broad roads and stone bridges, such as Marco Polo 
had described in his book. 

It was said that Cortez had conquered Monte- 
zuma and seized his treasure-houses and gold mines, 
which were the richest in the world, and that fleets of 
ships were on their way to Spain carrying gold bars 
and nuggets. 

Fernando de Soto was then twenty-one years old, 
and his heart grew big with ambition. He said he 




MONTEZUMA 



' See map, p. 245. 



* See map, p. 6. 



50 



Builders of Our Nation 



Francisco Pizarro 



1524 
Pizarro starts for 
Peru 



must restore the faded glory of his impoverished family, 
and to do this he would achieve as great things as 
Cortez. 

De Soto's best friend was Francisco Pizarro, who 
had become rich from some pearl islands he had found 
off the Panama coast. Pizarro said Mexico might have 
a great deal of gold; but that he knew it was not El 
Dorado; for he had been with Balboa when he dis- 
covered the South Sea, and he had heard the Indians 
say that the land of "the gilded one" lay far to the south. 

The two friends talked of little else than the land of 
El Dorado. They wanted to go together to seek it, 
but De Soto was an officer in the royal guards, and 
could not get leave of absence. So Pizarro set off 
alone with a small company of adventurers who swore 
to obey his commands. 

After many months Pizarro returned to tell a very 
wonderful story, indeed. He had sailed south and 
landed on a coast called Peru,' where the natives were 
quite different from the Indians of Panama. They 
dressed in fine spun cloth and wore chains of gold and 
jewels, and lived in many large cities where the houses 
were built of stone. He said there were rumors of 
vast mines farther inland, and of an Inca, or king, 
whose treasure was beyond the power of any man's 
count. He said he had gone back to Spain with chests 
of gold from the coast towns, and that King Charles 
had smiled upon him and had given him permission 
to raise an army and conquer the country, only ask- 
ing a fifth of the treasure for the crown. 

De Soto listened to this story with satisfaction, and 

' See maps, pp. 6, 51. 



Fernando De Soto 



51 



began to make his arrangements to leave the Panama 
army. 

Meantime Pizarro sailed for Peru with about a 
hundred cavaliers. A few months later De Soto ,~o 
joined him with more horses and men. They <4^ 
marched toward the capital of Peru, which ^' 

the natives called Cuzco. They reached " / 
the city of Caxamalca, where 
they heard that the Inca 



1531 

Pizarro sails again 

for Peru 

De Soto joins 

Pizarro 



was coming toward them 




AZTEC TEMPLE 



at the head of an army. 

De Soto advanced with 
an escort of forty men to 
try to find out whether 
king was a friend or 

It was a gay cavalcade — all the 
cavaliers in armor and mounted 

on horses, harnessed in tassels and silk. When De Soto 
came back to Caxamalca he brought with him the brother 
of the Inca, who was, to be sure, a red 
man; but he was so splendidly dressed 
and bore himself with such dignity that 
he inspired great respect. This prince 
brought presents of fruit and emeralds 
in gold vases, and said the Inca, his 
brother, would welcome the strangers. 
When De Soto was alone with Pizarro he told him 
what he had learned about the splendors of Cuzco. The splendors of 
There was a temple there with walls of gold ; on one 
side on the inner wall of tliis temple was the picture of 
the Sun glittering with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies 



'i OQu.TO 






f ,# <:"'•/■•' 






\jlC,^,yt<^u» ^0 




^-^ 


V'.'i,.i_.n.ici =: 


<- 




;^^ 


\ -p 




AS^M>y 






"*o_'|ji^^3 


-% 





•^ ■.<-'-^% 


•i\j: 




*o "'^V^ 


■tV^C', 


S" 


- 


>>~ix 


''<f 


*-v '; 


^ 



Cuzco 



The Tnca 



52 Builders of Our Nation 

There was a temple of the Moon, all of silver. Upon 
the altars of these temples were lilies of gold set with 
diamonds and pearls, and from the ceilings hung 
lamps trimmed with precious stones. 

De Soto said there were many populous cities in 
Peru, with splendid roads and bridges leading from 
city to city. He said the Inca had sat in the open on 
a high throne surrounded by his courtiers richly dressed, 
and he had bidden him welcome to Peru, through an 
interpreter, and had promised to come himself to 
Caxamalca. 

He told Pizarro how he had replied to these kind 
words as well as he could, and had then wheeled and 
vaulted to show the speed of his horse, and had ordered 
his men to wheel theirs and to turn and to twist for 
the pleasure of the Inca; and when by mishap one of 
the knights had fallen from his horse, many had cried 
out in terror, thinking the man and the horse were one 
human being and had broken in two. 

Pizarro and De Soto laughed aloud over that. And 
they laughed again when De Soto told how, when they 
shot at targets to amuse the Inca, the people showed 
their fear at the flash and roar of the powder, which 
seemed so like lightning and thunder from heaven. 

Pizarro said if the Inca received them kindly and 
would be baptized and become a vassal to King Charles, 
he might continue to sit on the throne of the ''Children 
of the Sun." But if he refused these demands, he, 
Pizarro, would sit on that high throne of gold as vice- 
gerent for the king of Spain. 

There was nothing to do, however, except to wait 
at Caxamalca until the promised visit. 



Fernando De Soto 53 

The Indian king came in splendor. His dress was Amvai of the inca 
embroidered in gold. He wore a jeweled crown and 
a collar of emeralds. He sat in a litter carried by 
nobles of the highest rank; by his side walked two 
priests with the Sun embroidered in gold on their 
breasts, and before him and behind him marched 
companies of soldiers with nodding plumes and waving 
flags. 

Now Pizarro had said to his priests that this Indian 
king must be baptized when he came, and they accord- 
ingly held up the cross as he approached. 

When the Inca saw the Spaniards, so fair of skin, 
and the group of priests in long white robes, he whis- 
pered to his own priests: "Perhaps these strangers are 
messengers of the gods." 

But the priests from the Temple of the Sun shook 
their heads. 

One of Pizarro's priests told about God and about 
Jesus Christ, who had died on the cross to save men. 
He said the Peruvians should cease to worship the 
Sun and worship the one true God. 

When the Inca asked the Jesuit where he had 
learned such strange things, he pointed to the Bible 
in his hand. The Inca took the Bible. He held it 
to his ear. Hearing no words he threw it from him in 
anger. 

"I will be the friend of your king," he said. "But 
I will not pay him tribute. I shall not change my 
religion, either. If Christians, as you call them, adore 
a god who died on a cross, / worship the Sun, who 
never dies." 



54 



Builders of Our Nation 



The Indian tradition 
of the white man 



Death of the Inca 



Pizarro and De Soto seized the Inca at these hasty 
words. They tore down the sacred banner from 
behind the litter. x\nd then arose a great cry from 
the king and from his two priests of the Sun. Tliey 
threw themselves prostrate to the earth, and they cried : 
"He has come! He has come!" 

Now, not even the Inca's army knew what their 
king and priests meant by this. It had been a sacred 
tradition for hundreds of years, known only to the 
Inca, his oldest son, and the priests of the Sun, that 
one day a fair god would come who would seize the 
sacred banner and usurp the throne. 

And now the emblem had fallen ! 

Guns boomed, horses reared and trampled some 
Indian guards under foot. In the end very few of the 
army that had come to Caxamalca escaped. 

The Inca told Pizarro that if he would release him 
he should have silver enough to fill a large room and 
gold enough to fill half a room ; and he sent messengers 
to Cuzco to order the treasure. Two thousand men 
were busy for days bringing vases and drinking-cups 
and altar pieces from the Temple of the Sun, and images, 
birds, fruits, and flowers, carved in gold in a most 
curious way. 

Meantime news came that another army was col- 
lecting to free the Inca. Pizarro ordered a great fire 
to burn the Inca who would not become a Christian. 
A Spanish priest asked that the Indian king might 
suffer an easier death if he would be baptized. After 
he had been baptized he was strangled. 

Pizarro, with De Soto ever at his side, conquered 



Pizarro founds Lima 



Fernando De Soto 55 

the Indian army which tried to avenge the death of 
their Inca. The Spaniards entered Cuzco, and found 
riches beyond their wildest dreams. They divided the 
treasure among themselves and the soldiers, and sent 
a fifth of it to King Charles. 

Pizarro resolved to remain in Peru, to set the natives 
to work in the mines. He made Lima the capital of 
the conquered country, and thousands of Indian slaves 
built bridges at Lima, and walls with high towers, 
and temples for the worship of the Christian religion. 

De Soto, who was now very rich, sailed back to oe soto sails for 
Spain on the ships that bore the king's treasure. He ^p"""* 
restored his father's castle to its old-time splendor. 
He had horses and coaches and a long line of servants 
to answer his call. He married Isabella, the beautiful 
daughter of Don Pedro de Avila, and lived like a prince 
at Seville. When he went to Valladolid, where King 
Charles held court, pages and lackeys preceded him 
as if he were a prince. 

Now all this time Spanish ships were bringing gold 
and silver from Mexico and Peru, and coffee, tobacco, 
dye-woods, and spices from the West Indies; but 
neither King Charles nor his nobles were content. 
They said there must be more gold mines and more 
spice lands in the vast unexplored regions of America. 
They talked most about a country northwest of Cuba, 
which Ponce de Leon, a friend of Columbus, called 
Florida. De Leon had traveled there while governor 
of Porto Rico to search for a "fountain of youth," „ ^^\^ ^ 

■I ' Ponce de Leon 

which the Indians said would make an old man young, discovers Florida 
But although the venerable soldier bathed in many 



56 



Builders of Our Nation 



De Soto governor of 
Cuba and Florida 



1538 
De Soto sails for 
Florida 



1539 
De Soto lands at 
Tampa Bay 



streams he had returned to Porto Rico as wrinkled 
and worn as ever. 

Fernando de Soto had not yet seen so many years 
that he needed to think of a cure for his age; but he 
wanted two things beginning with "g" — glory and gold. 
He thought he might find both glory and gold in 
Florida. King Charles accordingly appointed him 
governor of Cuba and Florida, which included all 
the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and stretched 
north, according to Spanish claims, to the banks of 
Newfoundland. 

When it became known throughout Spain that 
Fernando de Soto, who had helped Pizarro conquer 
Peru, was fitting out an expedition to conquer Florida, 
young noblemen flocked to Seville to join him. De 
Soto accepted only those who were strong and trained 
in arms. Nearly all he enrolled were rich and well 
bred, and were dressed in armor and silk. 

De Soto laid in a stock of guns and provisions and 
some cattle and hogs. He provided bloodhounds to 
hunt slaves, and chains to bind them, and white-robed 
priests to convert them. When everything was ready, 
ten ships sailed proudly from San Ducar. They stopped 
at Santiago de Cuba,' where De Soto left his wife to 
rule during his absence. Then he sailed for the Land 
of Flowers, and landed at Tampa Bay. 

The horses were unloaded to bear the cavaliers on 
their search for golden cities like those of Peru. The 
live stock was let loose to run and multiply in the 
woods. To this day in the glades of Florida run long- 

'See map, p. 241. 



Fernando De Soto 57 

snouted wild hogs called "razorbacks," whose ancestors 
probably came over in De Soto's ships. 

A few miles from Tampa Bay De Soto passed 
fields of maize and came at last to a large Indian The Florida Indians 
village. The wooden houses, spacious and thatched 
with palm leaves, were very different from the rude 
huts of Cuba. Some houses had furniture which was 
carved and inlaid with bits of gold; and the floors 
and walls were covered with buckskin that shone like 
silk. 

De Soto said much he saw reminded him of Peru, 
and that farther on they would surely find a rich city. 
He drew his men into line again. There were three 
hundred nobles on richly harnessed horses; then The march 
twelve priests in long robes, and four hooded monks, 
then six hundred men on foot, and a long train of slaves 
with the food and camp tools. 

They marched through the forests of Florida. 
They crossed rivers on rafts, they pushed through 
brush and fallen trees where Indians often lay in 
ambush to shoot them with arrows. 

De Soto marched on and on through the wilds of 
Florida, always in search of gold. When he captured 
hostile Indians he put chains upon them and forced 
them to carry baggage, and build rafts, and fetch 
water for the horses. 

Once an Indian princess floated down a river in An Indian princess 
a canoe. When the boat came to shore her chieftains 
carried her in a litter to De Soto's presence. She 
gave him presents of woven cloth and rare skins and 
a long string of pearls. But he seems to have feared 



58 



Builders of Our Nation 



that she was deceiving him into an ambush, and he 
made her a prisoner and kept her going about with 
him from place to place until she one day escaped. 

Wherever De Soto went he found deserted villages. 
Whenever he captured a chief he would carry him to 
the next town as a hostage, hoping thus to avoid the 
attacks from the woods. 

Once he came to a town where a chief lived who 
willingly allowed him to carry him off as he had carried 
off other chiefs; but, as it afterward proved, this chief 
was in a great plot to destroy the Spaniards. 

When they reached the town of Mavilla (Mobile) 
the imprisoned man escaped and ran into a cabin. 
The attack at MaviUa Whcn Dc Soto ordcrcd him to come out he only shouted 
back taunting words. Presently hundreds of painted 
warriors rushed upon the Spaniards. De Soto was 
wounded by an arrow, and many of his men were 
killed. The Indians 
were all killed but one, 
who hanged himself on 
a tree with his bow- 
string. The Spaniards 
claimed they had slain 
nearly three thousand 
Indians. 

They wandered on from Mavilla in their mad 
search for gold mines. 

One day about two years after landing at Tampa 
Bay they passed through a tangle of forests and swamps 
near the site of Memphis, Tennessee, and came to a 
broad river whose waters were almost as yellow as the 




Fernando De Soto 59 

gold they sought. The current of the river was so 
swift that it carried whole trees as if they were feathers. 
No one of them had ever seen such a vast river, and 
they said it was rightly named the Mississippi, which 1541 

1 t i -r~< ^ r itT . n The Mississippi 

means the 'Father of Waters. River 

De Soto built rafts to cross the Mississippi. A sorry 
crew embarked for the opposite shore — very different 
from the steel-clad cavaliers who had sailed from 
San Lucar. Silks had worn to rags, and rags had been 
replaced by skins of wild beasts. The shining armor 
had rusted or had been throwa away on the march, 
and only a few remained of all the horses and men. 

On the west bank of the Mississippi, De Soto built 
a cross so large that a hundred men could hardly lift 
it to its place, and he took possession of the land 
in the name of King Charles. The priests chanted 
a prayer while thousands of wondering natives looked 
on in amazement. 

De Soto soon left the river, to wander on over 
prairies and hills. He nearly reached the mouth' of 
the Missouri River; but nowhere did he find mines or 
cities like those in Peru. The climate was malarial, 
and his men were dying by scores, so he turned south 
again to try to reach the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps 
he began, at last, to realize that he himself was more 
prized by his beautiful wife than any glory or gold 
he might find. Near the fork of the Red River and 
the' Mississippi he was stricken with a fever. It was 
in the month of May. All nature was singing to his 
deaf ears, but he heard nothing. He muttered always 
the name, "Isabella, Isabella." 



'54-' 
Death of De Soto 



60 



Builders of Our Nation 



The tribes around him were gathering their clans 
together to cut off his little band, but he knew it not. 
He babbled on about his wife and the castle in Spain 
which the gold of Peru had restored to its old-time 
splendor. When he died his sorrowing comrades sunk 
his wasted body at midnight into the bosom of the 
great Father of Waters, which he had found. 




BURIAL OF DE SOTO 



Ragged and shriveled and dressed in skins, the 
survivors of the expedition built boats and finally 
reached a Spanish settlement in Mexico. 

And when, at last, two of De Soto's faithful friends 
arrived in Cuba with the tidings of his death, Isabella, 
the beautiful daughter of Pedro de Avila, died of a 
broken heart. 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 

THE LORD OF THE SEA 

1540-1596 




1540 

in Francis Drake 
bom 



countries of Europe 



FRANCIS DRAKE was born 
England. England, you remember, 
was the country where the Co- 
lumbus boys did not wish to live. 
But when Francis Drake's blue 
eyes first looked out upon that 
great sea-girt island a hundred 
years had passed, and a change had come over Eng- 
land as well as over all Europe. 

The north countries of Europe had been growing The north and south 
richer and the south countries poorer. The valleys 
of the north had been found more productive than 
the worn-out lands to the south. The northern 
forests furnished timber for ship-building and 
charcoal for ore-smelting. And there were chim- 
neys now for smoke, and glass for the windows 
of houses, so that the winters did not seem so 
severe. 

England was very prosperous. To be sure, 
Spain was growing rich with her American mines 
and her West Indian trade, and Portugal was 
growing rich with her East Indian trade; but England 
was growing rich, too, from wool, which was produced England becomes a 
in such quantities that weavers, dyers, and drapers ^umr^"""^ 
from all over Europe were moving there to manufac- 
ture cloth. 

61 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
1540-1596 



62 



Builders of Our Nation 




Francis Drake's 
boyhood 



Sir Francis Drake 63 

And so, if Francis Drake had been allowed to choose 
for himself, he might have chosen to be born just 
where it is said he was — "in an old boat turned bottom 
side up on the sandy down of Tavistock" in Devon- 
shire. ' 

Francis soon went to Plymouth, close to the sea, 
where his father read prayers to the royal navy. The 
lad went to sleep to the songs of the sailors, he waked 
to the hammers of the shipwrights in the dockyards; 
and all day long he played among the masts and hulls 
of the warships that were rotting away in the harbor 
of Plymouth since the death of Henry the Eighth. 

His hair was short and curly, and his shoulders 
were very broad. His father was poor, but his kins- 
men, the Hawkinses, owned half of Plymouth, and no 
boy in the town had more friends than Francis. When 
he cried: "Ahoy, me lads!" there was always a scrim- 
mage among his companions to see who could reach 
him first. 

With a band of trusty followers he explored the 
tideways of Plymouth Bay and the treacherous sand 
banks that shifted hither and thither along the beach; 
so that he learned early the sailor's art which would 
one day serve him so well. 

When Queen Mary came to the throne, Mr. Drake 1553 
lost his position of chaplain to the navy, because the SThrotl^'* ^"^^° ^ 
queen was a Catholic and he was a Protestant. Per- 
haps the reader of prayers was content to be merely 
relieved from his office; many of his friends, and even 
some of his kinsmen, were relieved of their heads 
because of their Protestant faith. 

I See map, p. 62. 



64 



Builders of Our Nation 



1554 

Philip of Spain 
arrives in England 



Francis Drake 
becomes a 
shipowner 



1558 
Queen 
Elizabeth 
ascends 
throne of 
England 



Francis became a politician. He divided his play- 
mates into two factions; but he always took the part 
of a Protestant. If some of the lads consented to be 
Catholics there was great hanging or taking olT of heads 
among the ship's rigging. When Francis was ten 
years old, Philip of Spain, who was a Catholic, came 
to England to marry Queen Mary, and the boy who 
played Philip in the games of Plymouth was once left 
to hang from a topmast until he was almost choked 
to death. 

When Francis was eleven he was apprenticed to 
the skipper of a small craft that sailed between England 
and the Netherlands.' Life in the channel was very 
severe; but the lad plied cheerily back and forth in 
fair weather and foul, and proved such a faithful com- 
^ACi^:^ panion that when the good skipper died 
j^^im he left him his boat. 

' ""^'^ ' ' '^ And so Francis Drake, while 

still very young, traded with the 
Netherlands on his own account. 

Meantime Queen IMary had 
died, and Elizaljeth, who was a 
Protestant, came to the throne. 
Philip went back to Spain to be- 
come king of the richest country 
in Europe. Philip was cruel to his 
Protestant subjects in the Nether- 
lands. Francis Drake carried 
many of these oppressed people to England, and during 
the passage they told him such terrible stories about 




QUEEN ELIZABETH 
1533-1603 



' Now the si'puratf kingdoms of Belgium and Holland. See map, p. go. 



Sir Francis Drake 65. 

the Spanish king that he sometimes clenched his fists 
and swore he would one day avenge them. 

After a while he grew tired of coasting in the English sir john Hawkins 
Channel, and risked his hard-earned savings with his 
kinsman, Sir John Hawkins, in the slave trade. Sir 
John traded along the coast of Guinea, and Queen 
Elizabeth herself took shares in his business. 

In those days it was thought a Christian's duty to 
bring negroes from the heathendom of Africa and place Francis Drake sails 
them in Christian homes. Sir John had been knighted 
by the queen for his success in the slave trade. His 
coat of arms had a chained negro's head for the crest. 

Sir John put Francis Drake in command of the 
Judith, and the fleet sailed merrily off for Africa. The 
ships were captured by the Spaniards, and young 
Drake barely escaped with his life. So he had some- 
thing else laid up against King Philip. 

Stained with travel and worn in dress he landed The return 
at Plymouth, and hurried post-haste to London to 
tell the queen's council of the Spanish attack. He 
related how Sir John and he had reached Africa safely, 
had loaded with slaves, and had sailed for the West 
Indies, where slaves were in demand on the cane, 
tobacco, and coffee plantations. 

They had not dared to trade openly, for Philip had 
issued an edict of death against foreign merchants; 
but Sir John had certain hiding-places where West 
Indians met him and purchased of their own free will. 
They had exchanged the slaves for gold, jewels, and 
dyestuffs, and were homeward bound when a Spanish 
fleet captured their ships. 

Now Queen Elizabeth knew a great deal about the 



66 Builders of Our Nation 

West Indies and Spanish America. She was a young 
princess when PhiHp of Spain had come to marry her 
sister Mary. She had seen a parade in London — 
fifty Spanish nobles in velvet clothes and rich gold chains, 
and a hundred lesser Spanish gentlemen in black cloth 
barred with gold, and two hundred horses loaded with 
sacks of silver and gold from Spanish America. 

The bright young eyes of Princess Elizabeth had 
seen all this, and hundreds of other eyes had seen it, 
and thousands of ears had heard about it, so that the 
riches of America, even in Queen Mary's reign, had 
been the theme of every tongue. 
Martin Cortez EHzabcth had talked very often with Martin Cortez, 

the son of the conqueror of Mexico, who was one of 
King Philip's pages and about her own age. 

She had asked him all about Mexico, and about the 
Indians and the gold they were forced to dig from the 
great Mexican mines. Martin Cortez knew all about 
it; for he was born in Mexico, and had been in Europe 
only a year. Elizabeth said if she ever became queen 
she would send ships to America to hunt for gold. 
But Martin told her she had better not do that, 
for the king of Spain owned all the lands that lay along 
the Atlantic Ocean and all that lay on the Pacific 
Ocean, and his majesty put to death any foreigners 
who tried to trade there. 

The young princess only nodded her head and set 
her pretty lips tight. She had her own ideas about 
matters and things even that early in life. 

No\y she was queen, with a whole court full of 
knights who would risk their lives for a smile. And 



Sir Francis Drake 67 

so when Francis Drake, all brown with the sea spray 

and western sun, came to London in breathless haste 

to tell the loss of the slave-ships. Queen Elizabeth, so 

it is said, saw him herself, and secretly planned an 

adventure. 

Be that as it may, Drake sailed from Plymouth with 

three good ships. He knew that the raid from Peru 

1S72 
was landed on the west coast of the Isthmus of Panama Francis Drake sails 

and was carried across country to the mouth of the Panama'"^'""'"' 

Chagres River on the east coast. That was almost 

along the very route of our Panama Canal.' 

Drake landed at the mouth of the river. He sent 
out spies, who presently returned aglow with great 
news. Two mule trains of treasure were coming, 
and in front of the train no less important man than 
the treasurer of Lima himself on his way to Spain with 
eight loads of gold and one load of rubies and pearls. 

The little band of Englishmen waited. Mule bells 
were heard in the distance, jangling louder and louder 
as they drew near. Then out from the high grass 
leaped Drake and his men to transfer the treasure to 
the waiting ships. 

And on a Sunday the good people of Plymouth 
heard a boom of salute and ran out of church to see The return (Aug. 9) 
Francis Drake ride into the bay. 

Drake said not a word to a man in Plymouth. He 
exchanged his weather-stained clothes for velvet and 
lace, a jeweled cap, and a great gold chain, and then 
hurried to London to share his spoils with the queen. 

Now King Philip had offered to marry Elizabeth, 

' See map. p. 249. 



1577 



68 Builders of Our Nation 

and people said he would make war upon England 
because she refused him. So when the queen saw the 
vast booty which might have helped hire Spanish 
armies, she exclaimed: '"Tis the best way to prevent 
war with Philip!" 

"Aye, 'tis better than powder, your majesty I" 
cried Drake. And because the queen smiled at these 
Drake sails in the bold words hc soon sallcd away with the Golden Hind 
and four other ships to plunder the coast of Peru. 

He passed through the West Indies, then south 
around Cape Horn. He captured Spanish treasure- 
ships amounting to millions of dollars. He plundered 
and burned Spanish settlements along the coast of 
Peru. Then he began to think about going home. 

Now he knew very well that Spanish men-of-war 
were lying in wait at the Strait of Magellan. He 
accordingly sailed north, hoping to hnd a passage that 
would lead to the Atlantic Ocean. 

He found no passage; but he cast anchor off the 
coast of California in a "fair and good bay," and so 
won the hearts of the natives that they wept when he 
set sail again. 

He steered west over the Pacific Ocean and landed 

The Philippines on onc of thc islands called "Philippines"' in honor 

of the king he hated so much. He passed through 

the Spice Islands to the Indian Ocean, and returned 

Drake returns to to England by Way of the Cape of Good Hope, after 

an absence of nearly three years. 

Drake was quickly summoned to court. He went 
with a long train of pack horses laden with spoils. 
He was brown in the face from the hot tropic sun, 

' Sec map, p. 245. 



Knglanil 



Sir Francis Drake 69 

but he was not ashamed of that. He wore a gold 
inlaid corselet and a ruff of point lace, and looked every 
inch a soldier as he strolled in the garden of the palace 
by the side of the queen. 

Elizabeth was charmed with her captain and what 
he had brought. 

Drake fetched the Golden Hind to Deptford/ and 
gave a banquet on board to the queen, who then made ^^ 
him a knight. He chose for his arms the image of a Francis Drake 
small ship^on a globe, because he had been the first ^^-"^^ ^ •^"'^ht 
Englishman who had "ploughed a furrow around the 
globe with his ship*." And as Sir Francis Drake he 
was the hero of many a song. 

Meantime word came that King Philip had seized 
Portugal. Spain thus had a right to the trade of the pwiip of spain 
East Indies as well as the West Indies. seizes Ponugai 

It certainly seemed as if discoverers, warriors, and 
seamen from ej^ery nation in Europe except England 
were toiling to build up the glory of Spain. And 
Philip would never rest content until England paid 
tribute, too. 

He said that if he could not win England 
through marriage, he could conquer the king- 
dom with arms, and he began to equip a great 
fleet. . 

Elizabeth knew how small and weak her kingdom 
was compared to the power of Spain; but the sea 
walled it in. In the sea lay her hopes. She began to 
build ships; and all the rich nobles on the coast built 
ships at their own expense. 

I See map, p. 62. 




70 



Builders oj Our Nation 



1587 

Drake^ sails for 
Cadiz and Lisbon 




The defeat of the 
Armada 



Sir Francis Drake, who had greed for danger as 
well as for gold, said to himself he would "singe the 
king of Spain's beard." 

He sailed from Plymouth. '"Tis the wind," he 
said, "and not the queen that commands us away. 
If we deserve ill, let us be punished." 

He sailed to Cadiz, ' where lay a hundred Spanish 
ships. He rifled; he scuttled; he sunk; he burned; 
he emptied out biscuits, flour, horseshoes, spurs, 
saddles, and pikes which had been put in store for the 
war with his queen. 

Then he sailed for Lisbon,' where he burned a 
hundred more ships, and on his way home he cap- 
tured a Spanish galleon from Calicut,' full 
of spices and gems. 

King Philip kept on increasing his fleet, 
which he called the "Invincible Armada." 
When at last the Armada put to sea the 
waters groaned with its weight. It 
entered the English Channel with silken 
pennants and sails, and a loud blare of 
trumpets and beating of drums. 

And then from all the harbors of 
England glided the queen's ships. 
Between Dover^ and Calais^ the fleets faced about. 
Night cam.e. The moon hung full. The English 
launched fire-ships in a strong north wind. The 
Spanish ships scattered. The English spread sail. 
Sir Francis Drake, second in command but first in 
attack, hurled broadsides of solid shot. The masts 



A SHIP OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 



I Sec map, p. 24. 



* See map, p. 20. 



3 See map, p. 62. 



Sir Francis Drake 71 

of the Invincible Armada were shattered, and the sails 
were torn to shreds. Three of the Spanish ships sunk 
in a howling storm. The rest of the ships, rocked by 
the sea and driven by the winds, scudded away. The 
English pursued until all that remained of the Invin- 
cible Armada was in full flight toward the north. 

When the last sobs of the hurricane ceased the 
coasts of Norway, Scotland, and Ireland were strewn 
with the wrecks of the fleet that had failed to make 
England a province of Spain. 

Sir Francis Drake had again "singed the king of 
Spain's beard." English seamen and warriors marched 
in triumph through the streets of London. The queen 
came out on horseback to meet them, with trumpeters, 
and councilors of state, and halberd men in scarlet 
cloaks. Thousands of people along the roadside gaped 
in wonder at the sight. 

When Sir Francis advanced to kneel before the 
queen, all eyes were fixed upon the "Lord of the Sea." The "Lord of the 
He was short, but broad of chest. His face was burned ^''''' 
with many suns. His hair curled close to his shapely 
head, from which he had removed his headpiece. 
His eyes were blue like the sea he loved, and his beard 
was cut to a point. He wore a heavy chain of gold 
about his neck, and on the full sleeves of his doublet 
was the image of a small ship on a globe embroidered 
most curiously in silken thread. 

"A fearful man to the king of Spain!" cried the 
throngs that pressed nearer to catch a glimpse of the 
hero. 

After the great procession was over, Elizabeth 



72 Builders oj Our Nation 

ordered f eastings that lasted for days, with jugglers, 
dancing bears, and merry-go-rounds. 

Meanwhile King Philip of Spain had shut himself 
up in the gloom of his palace. He published an edict 
that there should be no public mourning for the thou- 
sands of noble knights who had gone down in the 
Armada. Yet when a Portuguese merchant laughed 
over the shameful defeat he was hanged by the king's 
command. So it was said no one could either 
cry or laugh in his majesty's vast domains. 

It was soon noised throughout Europe that Philip 
was equipping another Armada to bring England to 
terms. 

"While the riches of the Indies continue," sighed 
Elizabeth, "King Philip thinketh he will be able to 
weary out all princes." And that royal sigh was quite 
enough for Sir Francis Drake, who still considered 
himself the one to make Spain's king draw tighter 
his purse strings. 
Sir Francis Drake Hc sallcd to thc Spamsh Malu;' he plundered the 

pwers the Spanish p^nama coast ; he landed in Venezuela, clanked his 
armor over the short Indian trail to Caracas, plundered 
churches and houses, and set sail again — all while the 
men of Caracas were hurrying down the long wagon 
road to the sea to find him. 

"Hating nothing so much as idleness," he sailed 

to the West Indies and brought back to England a 

cargo of tobacco, potatoes, and sugar. 

Drake's "last voyage to Thcu hc sct out ouce morc for the Spanish Main. 

pams am. j^^ ^^.^ -^^ would cross the Isthmus of Panama, sacl^ 

' The waters along the north coast of South Amorica. 



Sir Francis Drake 73 

Panama City, and l^e back with the wealth of Peru 
before PhiHp's new Armada could hoist sails for Eng- 
land. 

He reached the coast of Panama; but — alas for 
the dreams of the sea-rover! — a pestilence spread 
through the ships. Sir Francis was among the first 
to feel the fever. On the last day, in delirious wrath, 
he rose from his bed, put on his armor, and called 
loudly for his musket and sword. He stood upright 
on deck, and with his dying breath roared defiance The death of sir 
over the Spanish Main to King Philip and his ships. F-nds Drake 

When he fell, his men, with white faces, performed 
the last sad rites. They carried the body a league to 
sea and buried it at night in the glare of a Spanish 
town they had put to the torch. 




1594 
John Smith becomes 
an apprentice 



JOHN SMITH 

THE FATHER OF VIRGINIA 

1579-1631 

OHN SMITH was born in Willoughby'at a time 
when all England rang with the news of how 
Philip of Spain had seized upon Portugal, and 
thus held the trade of the East Indies as well 
as that of the West Indies. 

That same year all England boasted of how 
Sir Francis Drake had sailed around the world 
to bring Queen Elizabeth a shipload of plunder 
from Philip's mines in Peru. 
Eight years after that all England was mad with 
joy over the destruction of the '* Invin- 
cible Armada." John Smith himself 
may have seen the Spanish fleet as 
it staggered up the North Sea in 
full view of the Willoughby hills. 
And so the lad began life in 
the midst of stirring events which 
seem to have continued to the end 
of his days. 

At the age of fifteen he had lost 
both his parents and was apprenticed 
to Sir Thomas Sendall, the richest merchant of Lynn,' 
a bustling port on the east coast of England. 

John Smith heard plenty of gossip from the sea- 
rovers who landed there, and from the clerks, in the 
big Sendall warehouse, who knew all about shipping. 

' See nia]), j>. 62. 




JOHN SMITH 
1579- 1631 



John Smith 



75 



1497 

The Cabots reach 
North America 




He heard among other things how King Henry the 
Seventh had once sent the Cabots to America — John 
the father, and Sebastian his son — -to find a northwest 
passage to India; but that the Cabots had brought 
back only some big, gobbling birds, which 
they called "turkeys" because it was thought 
they came from the land of the Turks. 
John Smith knew by this time that Turkey 
was much farther off, and that the "tur- 
keys" had come from North America. 

He heard how King Henry the Eighth 
had sent two ships toward the North Pole 
to find a short way to China, and how one ship was 
lost, and the other had returned badly crushed by the 
icebergs. 

He heard how Sir Hugh Willoughby had tried to 1553 
find the passage; how his ships had been driven by sir Hugh wnioughby 
storms into a harbor of Lapland, and Sir Hugh 
himself, whom many still living in Willoughby had 
known well, had been found sitting in his cabin, 
quite dead, with his pen between his frozen 
fingers. 

Now everything the lad heard about a north 
passage to India sounded very forlorn indeed. 
But the stories about Sir Francis Drake, who 
was always "singeing the king of Spain's 
beard" in the West Indies, and about Sir 
Walter Raleigh, who was sending ship after 
ship to a fair part of America called Virginia (in honor 
of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen), set the heart of the 
young apprentice to beating fast. 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH 
1552 -1618 



76 



Builders of Our Nation 



John Smith begins his 
adventures 



A soldier in the 
Netherlands 



When he worked in the warehouse the smell of the 
spices made him wish he might see the lands where 
they grew. When he strolled down by the wharves 
the sea kept calling him to be up and away like other 
brave lads who had won the queen's smiles. 

So John Smith quit his employer to search for adven- 
tures. He crossed the channel and tramped for a while 
through France. One day he rendered a service to a 
Scotch gentleman, who gave him letters to some noble- 
men that were powerful at the English court. But 
he decided he would not make use of the letters until 
he had won a name for himself. He went to the 
Netherlands and fought with the Dutch against the 
armies of King Philip. 

He was a soldier two years. Then he went to 
Scotland with the letters, which by this time must 
have been rather musty. The noblemen to whom 
they were written offered to present him at court; but 
he said to himself that he would win his own way to 
court. 

He returned to Willoughby, and in a neighboring 
forest he built a "fairc pavilion of boughs." He had 
resolved to practice quite by himself until he became 
skilled in riding and fencing. He took to this forest 
retreat a horse, a servant, a lance, and some books. 

He worked most of the day hurling the lance through 
a ring suspended from a limb; cutting off branches with' 
his sword, and guiding his horse swiftly in and out of 
the forest as if the trees were enemies in battle array. 

The boys of Willoughby soon flocked in such num- 
bers to watch him that he grew tire<l of his play, and 



John Smith • 77 

went back into the world to practice his arms in real 
earnest. 

He traveled through France to Marseilles, where he with pugrims to the 
set sail with some pilgrims bound for the Holy Land. ""'^'^^""^ 
Such a wild storm broke forth when they were well 
out at sea that the pilgrims threw him overboard like 
Jonah of old. He escaped to shore on a log, and, 
after tramping through Italy, went to Hungary to smith goes to 
try his fortunes against the Turks. Hungary 

The Christian army camped on a wide plain before 
a Turkish fortress. The governor of the fortress sent 
a polite messenger begging that before the Christians 
began the siege he would like to match one of his 
bravest knights against the choice of their army. 

And who do you think was the champion chosen by 
the army of Hungary? It was Captain John Smith. 

Heralds shouted. Drums beat. Out from the 
fortress gate came a Turk in great pomp, with one slave 
holding a horse and another a lance. Captain Smith, 
in plain clothes, sprang to horse with his lance. 

The two champions leaped to the combat, while The combat 
Turkish ladies on the ramparts above fluttered scarfs 
and waved white hands. 

Now John Smith had not cut off tree branches at 
Willoughby for nothing. The Turk's head rolled to 
the ground in a trice. Loud shouts from both armies 
rent the air, but Smith sat his horse quite calmly. 

A second Turk, and then a third, challenged to 
comljat; but their heads, too, rolled in the dust. 

This wonderful feat of arms greatly discouraged 
the enemy, who soon surrendered the fortress. 



78 



Builders of Our Nation 



John Smith becomes 
a knight 




JOHN SMITH'S 
COAT OF ARMS 



A slave of slaves 



Smith returns to 
England 

1603 
King James I ascends 
the throne of England 



The Christians marched to the capital of Hungary; 
and when Prince Sigismund heard of the young Eng- 
h'shman's prowess, he granted him a patent of 
knighthood, with a coat of arms bearing three Turk 
heads. 

The army marched to new victories. Captain 
Smith was always in the heat of the fray, until he was 
finally left for dead on the field and found by the 
Turks. He was sold as a slave and sent to Con- 
stantinople to a beautiful lady, who fell in love with 
him. To save the life of the handsome young English- 
man the lady sent him beyond the Sea of Azof to her 
brother. 

The brother, alas ! riveted a great iron collar around 
his neck and treated him as a slave of slaves. 

At last Smith escaped in his master's clothes. He 
traveled for weeks, always afraid that some one would 
see under his Turkish dress the iron collar which he 
could not remove. On the river Don a kind man filed 
off this badge of a slave, and so the captain was a free 
man once more. 

He sought out Prince Sigismund, who remembered 
his services with a purse of gold. 

After many adventures. Smith reached England 
again, to find that Elizabeth was dead and King James 
the First was on the throne. 

Now affairs in England were not very prosperous. 
The war with Spain was over, and thousands of soldiers 
were turning robbers for want of something better to do. 
''These men must have employment," said King 
James, when he heard how the highways were not safe, 
even in daytime, for travelers to London. 



John Smith 



19 




Virginia 



The London Company 



Some of the merchants met to talk over the best 
means to provide the idle men with work. Nothing 
that any of them proposed seemed better than to plant 
colonies in Virginia as Sir Walter Raleigh had tried 
to do. 

King James declared that by reason of the 
discoveries of the Cabots, England had a just 
claim to all the land between Nova Scotia and 
the Cape Fear River. 

Since the whole region bore the name Virginia, 
he divided it into two parts. He gave North Virginia to 
some merchants of Plymouth, and South Virginia to North and south 
some merchants of London, on condition that they 
would plant colonies there. 

When John Smith reached home, the London Com- 
pany was just fitting out an expedition to South 
Virginia, under command of Captain Christopher New- 
port, a gallant seaman who had been in the service of 
Sir Walter Raleigh. 

John Smith found this proposed expedition quite 
to his taste, and well it was for the company that he did. 

Three ships with a hundred and five men set sail smith °Lis for somh 
from Blackwall ' on the Thames. They passed down the ^'"^'"^^ ^J"°- '^ 
coasts of France and Spain, then steered to the Canary 
Islands, and then to the West Indies, where they stopped 
a long time. The provisions were more than half 
gone when at last they sailed north. 

A stiff gale drove the ships into Chesapeake Bay. 
They entered a river which was called the James, 
after "his most excellent majesty." About fifty miles 
from the mouth of the river the men in the three ships 

I A suburl) of London. 



8o Builders of Our Nation 

J607 landed and built a fort. This fort was the beginning of 

Jamestown founded Jamestown, thc first permanent English settlement in 
America. 

The London Company were members of the Church 
of England, and had made very strict laws about 
church-going. The first church service was read under 
an old sail, with a plank nailed between two trees for 
a pulpit. 

Very soon a rude cabin was built for a church, 
and about this clustered the dwellings, one by one, 
until some sort of a roof sheltered every man in the 
colony. 

Most of the adventurers were gentlemen, which in 
those days meant men of gentle birth. Their hands 
were white, and, as it proved, their courage was of 
little account. They hoped to find gold in Virginia 
as De Soto had hoped to find gold in Florida, and, as 
you will see, but for the doughty John wSmith, the l^est 
and truest man of them all, they might have suffered 
a fate like that of the Spaniards. 
The search for gold All the loug summcr the ''gentlemen" sought gold 

on the banks of the James River. Now and then they 
pushed into the forests in search of cities like those of 
Mexico and Peru. But there were not any temples 
or palaces or mines or well-built roads — only deep, 
deep forests with now and then half-naked Indians 
creeping through the underbrush or skulking behind 
the trees to watch them in their useless search. 

The store of food became so scarce that a man's 
daily portion was reduced to a half pint of mouldy 
wheat and the same amount of rye. As long as fish, 



John Smith 8i 

berries, and wild game lasted, there was no danger of 
starving; but knowing that winter must come, Captain 
Newport sailed back to England for more supplies. 

The hot month of August bred disease. Some- Disease 
times three or four men died in a day. Captain Smith 
was never busier in his whole life. He nursed the 
sick, cheered the disheartened, and rebuked the unruly. 

At last, in the dire need for food, he went up the 
James to buy corn and meat of the natives. The 
Indians had spied out the sad plight of the colony, 
and had little respect for such weakness. 

"Here I" said the chief of a tribe. He held out a 
handful of corn to exchange for the little iron chisels 
and the beads Smith had brought. And all the warriors 
around him screamed with laughter and brandished 
high their clubs. 

But Captain John Smith, who had three Turk 
heads on his shield, boldly seized the chieftain by the smith finds food 

among the Indians 

scalp-lock, set a pistol to his breast, and demanded corn 
with such fury that the warriors were soon scurrying 
about to fulfill his demands. 

As soon as affairs at Jamestown permitted, Smith 
started up the Chickahominy River. Because this Explorations 
river flowed from the west, he fondly hoped to follow 
its course to the great South Sea' Balboa had found. 
You know very well how very much awry Captain 
John Smith's geography was! 

The Indians along the bank of the river were wary 
and watchful. When he landed near a place now 
called White Oak Swamp, he was attacked by two 

' The Pacific Ocean. 



82 



Builders of Our Nation 



Powhatan 



Pocahontas 



hundred red men in war paint. He killed two of the 
warriors, and might have escaped if he had not sunk 
into the swamp to his waist. 

He was carried to many Indian villages, and at 
length reached the village of their emperor, Powhatan, 
who received him in savage state, and condemned him 
to die. According to Smith's own account, his head 
had been laid on a stone and several stout clubs hung 
ready to dash out his brains, when the Princess Poca- 
hontas interceded to save him. 

The captain used all his skill to keep in favor at 
the Indian court. He amused Princess Pocahontas, 
who was about ten years old, with bells and beads and 
pretty things he whittled out of wood. He showed 
Emperor Powhatan a compass, and how the needle 
always pointed to the north star, so that the English 
hunter might make his way through trackless forests 
he had never seen before. 

Powhatan had never seen a mariner's compass, 
and did not know what glass was. He tried to touch 
the quivering needle. He thought it was surely magic 
that he could not put his finger through what seemed 
mere air. In fact, the captain himself seemed so like 
some great magician who might bring good or evil at 
will to the red men, that he was soon allowed to go to 
his home. 

Smith found the half-starved men of Jamestown 
preparing to sail back to England. He turned the 
guns of the fort on the leaders and gave them their 
choice to remain or die. They chose to remain. A 
few days later Pocahontas came with a band of Indians 
carrying baskets of corn. 



John Smith 83 

The colony took heart again. Smith set every man 
to work at building more comfortable houses, clearing 
forests, and throwing up barricades — for he said he had 
small faith in this new friendship professed by the red 
men. 

With the coming of spring he insisted that fields 
should be plowed for grain, and that a part of the game 
that was killed should be dried for future use. When 
everything was prospering he sailed up the Chesapeake, 
explored the Potomac and the Susquehanna Rivers, 
and drew a map of all the region — an admirable map smiths map of 

, . , , ■, South VirRinia 

which may be seen today. 

In the. autumn Captain Newport returned from 
England with the needed supplies and a hundred 
more men. The London Company had sent a crown 
for Powhatan, who was to be a vassal under King Powhatan a vassal 
James, and with the crown came a bed, a basin, a ° '"^ 
pitcher, and a long scarlet robe. 

Powhatan was highly pleased with the gifts and 
paraded about in his red robe to the envy of all the 
lesser chiefs; but he refused to kneel when he received 
the crown, so that Ca}3^ains Smith and Newport had 
each to take a shoulder to force him down. 

When the ceremony was over, Powhatan chose gifts 
to send back to King James — a pair of his moccasins 
and a blanket of raccoon skins. 

Now either from the vast elevation to which this p„whatan pims to 
new crown had raised him, or from the fear that the ^^■'''■•■'y j;uiusto«n 
white strangers who kept coming by shiploads would 
one day outnumber his warriors, the shrewd old chief 
planned to kill all the white settlers and burn down 
their houses. 



84 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Discipline enforced 



160Q 
Smith returns to 
F.nKliind 



While Captain Smith was on the York River with 
forty of his men, Httle Pocahontas crept through the 
darkness of the night and told him of the plot, so that 
he was able to frighten the chief into peace. 

As spring drew near again the Jamestown cavaliers 
found a bank of shiny sand which they thought was 
gold. Precious spring months, which should have 
been spent in planting corn, were wasted in filling a 
ship with this worthless sand. Smith finally convinced 
the men of their folly, and loaded the ship with cedar 
posts, which brought a good price in England. 

Presently more adventurers came to Jamestown, but 
so many of these were worthless, idle gentlemen that 
the captain was forced to make this law: "He that 
will not work shall not eat." 

The law was posted on the walls of the fort. The 
whole colony was soon very busy; but some swore so 
loudly over their bruised and blackened hands that 
Smith had a record kept, and a can of water was poured 
down the sleeve for each and every "swearword" a 
man uttered aloud. 

Things prospered more and more at Jamestown 
until Captain Smith was wounded in the leg by an 
explosion of gunpowder and forced to go to England 
for medical aid. 

He left behind him four hundred and ninety per- 
sons ; three ships and seven boats ; ten weeks' provisions 
in store; three hundred muskets; nets for fishing; 
tools for all sorts of work ; horses, hogs, and chickens — 
a good beginning for the first English settlement in 
America. 



i6i4 



England 



John Smith 85 

Captain Smith did not return to Jamestown. But 
he never forgot the colony for which he had done so 
much. When he saw men in England out of work 
he urged them to go to Jamestown, not to hunt gold — 
he frankly said he believed there was no gold in Vir- 
ginia — but to fell trees for ship-timber, and to prepare 
tar, pitch, and soap ashes, which brought good prices 
in Europe. 

After some years Smith crossed the ocean again in 
the service of the Plymouth Company.' While the smith gJes to North 
crews of his ships were catching and drying fish along 
the coast of North Virginia he explored the coast from 
the Penobscot River to Cape Cod, and made a map of it. The map of New 
He named all the region "New England." At one 
place on the map he wrote "Plymouth," after the town 
in England from which he had sailed. At another 
place, where a cape jutted out, he wrote Tragabigzanda, 
in memory of the Turkish beauty who had loved him. 
But the English people who afterward settled there 
must have found the name too hard to pronounce, for 
they changed it to Cape Ann. 

Smith's first voyage to New England was so suc- 
cessful that the following year he was sent again. 
Before he was well out to sea he was captured by a 
French man-of-war. One night he slipped down the 
side of the ship, cut loose a boat, and after tossing about 
on a wild sea reached the coast of England. He 
remained in England the rest of his life, spending most 
of his time writing books about New England and The books of captain 
America. The books of Captain Smith were widely 

' See the grant to the Plymouth Company, p. 79. 



Smith 



86 



Builders of Our Nation 



ihn Rolfc 



Wives foi 

Jamestown 

planters 



1616 
I'o( ahontas goes 
to England 



read. They kept people thinking about planting 
colonies in America. 

Smith never quite gave up the idea of planting 
another colony himself. Once he obtained promise of 
territory, ships, and the title of admiral; but nothing 
came of the project. 

He passed the last years of his life in London. All 
the seamen down on the wharves of the Thames knew 
the limping old soldier with three Turk heads on his 
sleeve. 

Once he saw two hundred poor boys from the streets 
and alleys of London shipped off for Jamestown — a 
chattering, dirty lot, who were to work on the tobacco 
plantations which his young friend John Rolfe had 
encouraged the settlers to cultivate until tol)acco was 
one of the chief exports of Virginia. 

He heard many a bit of gossip down on the wharves 

from the incoming sailors — how thrifty young 

women had gone over to Jamestown to marry the 

planters; how the London Company had made 

even stricter laws than those he had once 

made; how the plantations had been 

divided into settlements called boroughs, 

with two burgesses elected from each, who 

were to help make laws for themselves. 

Perhaps the most delightful news that 

POCAHONTAS Captain Smith heard from Virginia was 

that Pocahontas had become a Christian, and had 

married John Rolfe. 

When Pocahontas went to London with her hus- 
band she visited the captain, which must have pleased 




I 620 



John Smith 87 

him, yes, and flattered him too; because the Princess 
Pocahontas was received at court, and was the talk 
of the fashionables of England. 

Captain Smith regretted that he had not been able 
to plant a colony in New England. One day he heard 
highly exciting news. Some pious people who were 
not allowed to worship in England as they pleased had 
sailed, like "Pilgrims," in the Mayflower to plant The piigrims in the 
another colony in America; but he could not find out 
just where they were going. 

A few months later he heard that the Pilgrims had 
landed in New England on the very bay he had marked 
"Plymouth" on his map. It seemed the hand of 
Providence. 

The good captain watched eagerly for more news 
of the colony, and after a time he learned that another 1628 
band of church people called "Puritans" had settled 
in New England at Salem, with honest, clear-headed 
John Endicott as governor. 

The year before he died he heard how John Winthrop ThJdetth of cap.ain 
of Groton and one thousand Puritans had sailed to J"hnSmith,juno2) 
New England in eleven ships and had settled the towns 
of Dorchester, Roxbury, Charlestown, and Boston. 

It was just what Captain John Smith, the father 
of Virginia and the explorer of New England, had 
written and worked to bring about. 



The Puritans 
at Plymouth 



Miles Standish 
born in England 



The Church of 
England 



The Catholics 



The Puritans 




MILES STANDISH 

THE CAPTAIN OF PLYMOUTH 

1584-1656 

fILES STANDISH was born in Lancashire, 
England, at Duxbury Hall, a square, brick 
mansion set in a park, with low hills off in the 
distance. A few miles to the west, at Standish 
Hall, lived his cousins, who were Catholics. 
Miles' father probably belonged to the Church 
of England, which had separated from the Roman 
Catholic Church, with the ruler of England as its head 
instead of the Pope. 

Queen Elizabeth hated the Catholics, who would 
not attend her church, but she hated 
still more the Puritans who went to the <'(> 
church but spent most of their time 
finding fault with it. 

These Puritans thought too ^ 
much money was squandered both 
for worship and for fine dress. 

"Look ye," said one Puritan. 
"There's many a shilling gone up 
in that incense." 

"The candles on the altar," said 
another, "and the gold candlesticks and all that mum- 
mery is not pleasing to God." 

"They say," said another, "her majesty has two 
thousand dresses all decked out with jewels and lace. 
'Tis vanity! All is vanity!" 




MILES STANDISH 
1584-1656 



Miles Standish 



89 



Punishment of the 
Puritans 



"Have ye heard," asked another, "how 'tis said Sir 
Walter Raleigh once spread his new velvet coat in 
the mud for her majesty to step on ? 'Twas a sinful 
waste, and a bad example to set for our spendthrifts." 

And so these Puritans kept finding fault day in 
and day out until the queen quite lost patience. Some 
were fined, some were set in the stocks, and some were 
thrown into prison where many of them died from 
hunger and cold. 

Little Miles Standish knew Puritans whenever he 
saw them. They wore sober gray clothes of plain 
cut. They never swore nor stopped at the ale- 
house, and they looked so solemn that he was a 
bit afraid when they crossed his path in the woods 
of Duxbury Hall. j 

As for himself, he found the Church of Eng- 
land quite good enough. He loved to see the pomp 
of the bishop in his long robes, and to sniff the sweet 
incense, to hear the chants of the choir boys, and to 
watch the candles shimmer like stars in the gloom of 
the great church. 

He knew, too, that those who favored the queen's 
religion were pretty sure to get along in the world, and 
he had some notion of being a soldier. 

When Miles Standish was still in his teens he was 
made a lieutenant in the army, and went with a red- , ^^°- 

^ Lieutenant Miles 

coated regiment to the Netherlands to help the Dutch standish goes to the 
in their war with Spain. 

He was small in size, but wiry and quick— "a little 
chimney, and heated hot in a moment." He soon 
became a favorite with his commander, Sir Thomas 




A PURITAN 



Netherlands 



go 



Builders of Oar Nation 



Vere, a giant of a man with a great brown beard shaped 
h'ke a spade. 

Lieutenant Standish took his part in assaults and 
sorties and ambuscades. He dulled his good sword 
in his thrusts and his parries. More than once his 
helmet and breastplate were dinted by the big-whiskered 
Spaniards. Sometimes he waded to the top of his stout 
Cordovan boots in the deep, country marshes; some- 
times he yawned the hours away in some placid Dutch 
town where the streets were canals and storks flapped 
lazily to and fro among the high-gabled roofs of the 
houses. 

When peace came at last to the Netherlands, Captain 
Miles Standish started out to see 
something of the country he had 
helped to set free. He found it a 
curious region — just a stretch of 
coast land built upon a vast num- 
ber of canals formed from slug- 
gish, oozy rivers that emptied into 
the North Sea. 

He finally rambled into Leyden 
which was said to be the most 
beautiful city in the Netherlands. 
The water-streets of Leyden were 
shaded with linden trees and crossed by more than a 
hundred bridges, and its university was famous all 
over Europe. 

About the first person Captain Standish saw was 
a man in sober gray dress. He knew right away it 
must be one of those Puritans he had dreaded to meet 




Miles Standish 91 

in the Duxbury woods when he was a wee bit of a lad ; 
but he was glad enough to meet anyone from good old 
England. 

He found that quite a number of Christians who separatists 
had separated from the Church of England had moved 
to Leyden. They were called Separatists in England, 
but they called themselves Pilgrims, because they had 
traveled so far to worship. 

When the Reverend John Robinson, who was the joim Robinson 
minister of the Leyden church, asked Standish to make 
himself at home with his countrymen, the captain 
was glad enough to take off his stiff corselet and lay 
by his musket and sword for a rest. 

The young soldier may have smiled at first over 
the prim, devout lives of the Pilgrims; but he stayed 
on with them week after week. Some say dainty little 
"Rose"was the real cause of the captain's long rest. 
However that may be, he made the pilgrim Rose his 
wife, and then seems to have decided to bide with his 
new friends, though he never joined their church. 

Several of the Pilgrims had been personages of wiiiiam Brewster 
importance in England. William Brewster had been at ^^'"'^"' Bradford 

Edward Winslow 

Queen Elizabeth s court, William Bradford had left 
large estates, and so, too, had Edward Winslow, who 
belonged to one of the best English families. 

Captain Standish began a friendship at Leyden with 
William Bradford and Edward Winslow, who were 
about his own age, which endured for the rest of their 
lives. 

He heard from Elder Robinson the story of the 
Pilgrim wanderings; how they had established a little 



persecutes dissenters 



92 Builders of Our Nation 

church of their own at Scrooby' in Nottinghamshire, 
King James I but had bccn persecuted so much by the baiHffs of 

King James that they had been obliged to leave the 
dear fatherland. Elder Robinson said it was hard 
to get along in this land that had been picked bare by 
the king of Spain's troops. His own son had been 
obliged to become a ribbon weaver to keep the wolf 
from the door. Yet even while the good elder was 
telling the sad story, he paused, now and then, to praise 
God for leading them to a land where a man's conscience 
was his own. 

The Pilgrims remained at Leyden several years 
after Miles Standish came among them. Perhaps the 
little captain was the first to talk about moving to 
America; for the humdrum life of Leyden must have 
wearied him very much. It is pretty certain that 
William Bradford and Edward Winslow were always 
ready to argue against remaining longer in a place 
where so many members of the congregation found it 
difficult to earn their daily bread. 

The older men listened to these younger ones all the 
more willingly in that they saw their sons taking Dutch 
wives and their grandchildren learning the Dutch lan- 
guage. They were true Englishmen at heart and wished 
their families to remain English. 

Yet where should they go in America ? They heard 
that the Jamestown colony forced all its members to 
belong to the Church of England; so that it would be 
as difficult to have their own worship in Virginia as it 
had been in England. 

' See map, p. 62. 



Miles Standish 



93 



Hudson River 



John Carver 



^4:^!:^ 



Presently they heard that some Dutch had settled 
on the Hudson River near a region John Smith had The Dutch on the 
called New England, and that they were prospering 
in the fur trade. 

Elder Robinson wrote to friends in England for 
John Smith's pamphlet about New England. 

In the end it was decided that the youngest and 
strongest of the congregation should go to America to 
prepare the way for them all, and John Carver 
was accordingly sent to England to arrange for the 
voyage. 

When everything was made ready the Pil- 
grims met together for the last time at the home 
of Elder Robinson. Those who were to depart 
loaded their belongings upon a canal boat, and 
the whole cons:regation went to Delfts Haven,' 
where the Speedwell was waiting. 

As the sails of the ship swelled to the wind 
they all knelt on deck. Elder Robinson offered 
up prayer. Tearful farewells were uttered, 
and the Speedwell was soon on its way to England. 

At Southampton^ a hundred and two of the youngest The ifajv^owr sails 
and strongest embarked on the Mayflower. We may '"^ sept. 1")^'°" 
be sure Captain Miles Standish, William Bradford, 
and Edward Winslow were among them. John Alden 
was there too — tall and handsome, with light curls 
and keen blue eyes, the very youngest of all the young 
men. 

After a stormy voyage, lasting over nine weeks, the 
ship dropped anchor off Cape Cod,^ which Captain 




THE MAYFLOWER 



I See map, p. 90. ^Sce map, p. 62. 



3 Sec map, p. 95. 



94 



Builders of Our Nation 



The signing of the 
Pilgrim constitution 
(Nov. 2l) 



John Carver, first 
governor of Plymouth 



Smith had written was "shaped like a sickle" and was 
a flat, well- wooded coast. 

Before landing, the "Pilgrim Fathers" met in the 
cabin of the Mayflower to write out some laws by which 
they agreed to govern themselves. 

You can almost sec them in the close little room. 
On the table lay the paper. The world had never 
seen or heard of such a paper before. It was not 
written by kings or nobles for their own selfish ends. 
It was a constitution, written by the people for the 
people. It was really the very beginning of that great 
constitution of the United States under which we 
are living today. 

John Carver, who had been elected governor, 
stepped to the table and set his name to the paper. 
William Bradford signed his name, then 
Edward Winslow and William Brewster. 
After one other had signed, Miles Stand- 
ish, who had been elected captain-in- 
chief, stepped up with the pen — 

Short of stature he was, but strongly built 

and athletic, 
Broad in the shoulders, deep chested, 

with muscles and sinews of iron. 

The very next one was John Alden, looking like a big 
schoolboy, yet old enough and lovable and brave 
enough to be numbered with the best. 

When all the men had signed this agreement to 
make and to obey whatever laws might be for the good 
of the colony, some of the men helped the women 
go ashore to wash the linen. Although the weather 
was so severe that the sea spray froze on their clothes, 



l^iilSiVvJQrad/orar 




Miles Standish 



95 




MAP OF PLYMOUTH 



you may be sure as many of the larger boys and girls 
as were allowed got to shore too. They carried water 
and kindling wood, and looked for shells, and shouted 
into the pine trees as loudly as they dared, for they were 
afraid that they might call out Indians like those seen 
by John Smith when he had landed at that place. 

Meanwhile Captain Standish, with a band of armed 
men, set out to explore the region. In sleet and a 
freezing gale he found at last a place which Smith had 
marked "Plymouth" on his map. 

Here the Pilgrims landed. They cleared away The^andingat 
snow drifts, cut logs, and began to build houses. Plymouth (Dec. 21) 
First they erected a large house for all ; then they built 
separate houses for family use, and a meeting-house 
with a cannon on a platform to protect them from 
hostile Indians. They mixed straw and mud together 
for a mortar and built wide stone fireplaces with iron 
spits and hooks on which kettles were hung for cook- 
ing; and piled up plenty of pine knots for 
light after dark. 

They brought from the Mayflower arm 
chairs and wooden settles, high-posted beds, 
cradles, dishes, spinning wheels, clothes 
chests, and other useful furniture. 

The first house set up was soon used as 
a hospital. Sometimes two or three of the Pilgrims Disease and death 
were laid under the snow in a day. At one time only 
seven men were able to take care of the sick. The 
tendercst of these nurses was the fearless captain, with 
William Bradford always at his side. By the end of 
February thirty-one of the hundred and two Pilgrims 
had died; among them was gentle Rose Standish. 




A PURITAN CRADLE 



96 



Builders of Our Nation 



Samoset 



1621 
Massasoit makes 
peace 



There was always danger from the Indians. Once 
while the men were felling trees, a shower of arrows 
had fallen from an ambush. But no red men ventured 
near until early spring, when a half-naked Indian walked 
boldly into the town. 

"Welcome," he said, with a smiling face. 

It was Samoset, who had learned a few English 
words from fishermen off the coast of Maine. Samoset 
became a true friend. He acted as a messenger for 
Massasoit, who lived at Mount Hope, about forty 
miles southwest of Pl3'mouth. 

Massasoit was chief of an Algonquin nation.' 
He himself, with sixty warriors in furs, feathers, and 
paint, came presently to pay a visit. 

Governor Carver was not quite sure whether the 
chief was coming as a friend or as a foe. He accord- 
ingly decided to make a fine show of arms, without 
using them except in case of need. 

Edward Winslow, unarmed, advanced into the 
woods to meet Massasoit. Captain Standish, in his 
coat of mail, with six men in corselets, headpieces, and 
muskets, greeted the chief at the edge of the town and 
escorted him with ceremony to one of the houses, 
where he seated him on a rug. The captain, his small, 
shining figure drawn to its full height, then withdrew 
to fetch the governor. Drums beat, trumpets blew, 
the cannon on Fort Hill boomed, and all the able 
men in the colony marched in step into the room where 
the chief sat on a rug. 

Massasoit, much impressed by this fair display, 
made oath to keep peace, and he never broke his pledge. 

' The Wampanoags. See map, p. 102. 



Miles Standish 



97 



Hobo- 




Squantum, too, who had been to England in a squamum 
trading vessel and spoke English very well, came to 
Plymouth. He taught the Pilgrims to plant corn when 
the oak leaves were as big as a mouse's ear, and to 
stalk game, and to fish with spear heads, Indian fashion. 

But of all the friendly Indians, Hobomok was 
the one who pinned his perfect faith to Captain 
Standish. Hobomok, a stalwart, powerful war- 
rior, followed the little captain around as a 
faithful dog follows his master, and taught him 
the Indian language and the secrets of the Amer- 
ican forests. ' JOHN CARVER'S CHAIR 

In April the Mayflower hoisted sail, but not one of The^i/ay/?oT.rr 
the Pilgrims was willing to give up the new hope in his ■"'''"'■"^ '° England 
heart, so that only the regular crew returned to England. 

The day after the ship sailed Governor Carver died; Death of Governor 
his wife, worn-out with hardships, died soon after and 
was laid at his side. 

When William Bradford was chosen governor, he wiiuam Bradford 
depended more than ever upon Miles Standish and 
Edward Winslow. 

He sent Winslow to present Massasoit with a red 
coat and a copper chain for his neck. This was the 
beginning of many visits to Mount Hope. After one 
of the visits Massasoit volunteered to accompany 
Winslow home. He walked very slowly through the 
forest. As they neared Plymouth a sound of weeping 
was heard. The Pilgrims were standing in groups, 
talking in subdued tones. Shouts of joy burst forth at 
sight of Edward Winslow. Captain Standish himself 
was the first to wring his hand. 



becomes governor 



98 Builders 0} Our Nation 

And Massasoit, the odd old fellow, explained that 
he had sent messengers ahead, Indian fashion, to say- 
that Winslow was dead, so that the rejoicing might 
be greater when he arrived sound and well. 

Not all of the Indians were so friendly as Massasoit. 
canonicus Canonlcus, chief of the Narragansetts, ' thought the 

Pilgrims were taking too much hunting-ground. He 
tied a rattlesnake's skin around a bundle of arrows 
and sent it as a threat to Plymouth. Captain Miles 
Standish was not frightened a bit. He advised Gov- 
ernor Bradford to return the skin filled with powder 
and shot, and thus the chief was frightened into peace. 

The Plymouth captain mustered the men every 
day at the beat of a drum. His sharp word of com- 
mand, his look of approval, or his swift rebuke had 
unfailing effect. On the Lord's Day he drew his band 
into line and escorted Governor Bradford and the 
women and children to the meeting-house, which had 
a fiat roof with a cannon perched upon it. Elder 
Brewster "prophesied" while the men sat with their 
muskets beside them. 

There were few women left after the long winter's 
sickness. One of the fairest of these was Priscilla 
Mullens, whose father and mother and brother had died. 
Captain Standish had watched Priscilla — 

sj)inning and spinning, 
Never idle a moment, l)ut thrifty and thoughtf-ul of others. 

John Alden, the youngest man in Plymouth, had 
watched Priscilla too. He had taken one special seat 
in the meeting-house where he could see her fair face; 

' See map, p. 102. 



Miles Standish 



99 



he helped her with her chores during the week days; 
he brought her sweet wild flowers from his log-cutting 
in the forest. 

And so when blunt old Captain Standish, his best The courtship of 
and truest friend, told John Alden that his soldier's 
courage failed him in the presence of a maiden, and 
asked him to help induce Priscilla to change her name 
to Standish, the young lover was very much troubled 
indeed. 

John Alden had always obeyed his captain, and 
he said to himself he would not fail him now, 
whatever the cost. 

He went straight to Priscilla, who sat at her 
wheel. He blurted out that he carried an offer of 
marriage from Miles Standish, the captain of 
Plymouth. 

Now Priscilla had all these months been shyly 
noting the splendid, boyish John Alden. She had 
kept his image as fresh in her heart as she had kept 
his flowers. At first she listened with a pale face to 
the swift praise of his captain— in his haste to get over 
the task he hardly knew how fast he was talking— and 
presently she said with a blush : 

"Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" 

John Alden, without a word, rushed from the room 
to wander for a time by the sea, before he could face 
his captain . 

Word came that Indians were about to attack Wey- weymouth 
mouth, an English settlement about twenty miles 
north of Plymouth, on Massachusetts Bay. These 
Weymouth settlers were not Pilgrims. They belonged 




A SPINNING WHEEL 



loo Builders of Our Nation 

to the Church of England and had come to America 
to trade in furs. They were idle and roving; their 
clothes were worn to rags; they had begged from their 
red neighbors. All in all they had been so good for 
nothing that the Indians plotted to destroy them. 

Right in the midst of the love tangle over Priscilla, 
Hobomok brought news of the plot against Weymouth. 
The stalwart Standish buckled on his steel and with 
eight resolute men sailed away for the new settlement. 

It is a long story how after many days the captain 
returned with the grisly head of an Indian chief, which 
he set as a warning over the fort. And it is a pretty 
story, told by Longfellow, how the colony heard he 
had been killed by some Indians, and how, thinking 
himself free, John Alden had just married Priscilla 
Mullens when the doughty captain returned to give 
them his blessing. 

After all there was much for the captain of Plymouth 
Merrynu.uiu to do. Hc wcnt to Mcrrymount to break up a settle- 

ment of wild young Englishmen who were selling guns 
to the Indians. The half -drunken fellows defied 
^'Little Captain Shrimp" to do his worst. But their 
leader was carried to Plymouth to be shipped back to 
England, with only one tipsy Merrymounter wounded 
on the nose. 

The captain of Plymouth kept Hobomok at his 
side wherever he went. The little white man in his 
bright coat of mail and the tall red man in his blanket 
were always chosen to explore and survey the Indian 
lands that were bought, to trade with the Indians, 
and to settle disputes with them. 



Miles Standish 



lOI 




JOHN WINTHROP 
1588-1649 

Salem 



Standish moved to a country seat which he called Dux- j^^, 
bury after Duxbury Hall in Engjland. His home was captain standish 

-^ _ moves to Duxbury 

near the bay, in full sight of Plymouth. Hobomok 
dwelt in a wigwam down by the beach for a time, 
and later brought his blanket and kettle, his arrows 
and bow, to the house, where he lived the rest 
of his days. 

Now and then from his quiet retreat 
Standish visited the English settlements along 
the INIassachusetts coast. Many Puritans had 
come to New England since the Pilgrims 
had pointed the way. They had settled 
Salem, with honest, clear-headed John Endi- 
cott as governor; they had planted the towns of Dor- Dorchester 
Chester, Roxbury, Charlestown, and Boston. And all ^iJaSown 
these towns had united under the name of the Massa- ^"^'""^ 
chusetts Bay Colony, with John Winthrop for governor. 

Standish may have sailed around Cape Cod to visit 
Hartford, on the Connecticut River, and Saybrook, at Hartford 

1 r 1 • 1 -XT TT .Saybrook 

the mouth of the river, and New Haven — all settled by New Haven 
Puritans. He must have visited Providence, Rhode Providence 
Island, too; for it had been founded by the Baptist 
preacher, Roger Williams, who was a great friend of 
Massasoit and Hobomok and often visited at Duxbury. 

The Plymouth captain must have rejoiced when 
he read the letter from Massachusetts Bay asking the 
Pilgrims to join the Puritans at Boston in forming a 
union for mutual protection. 

He favored Edward Winslow for delegate to the ^nsiand union 
convention, and Edward Winslow was chosen at the 
town meeting. 



1643 

Thi- tir-t Xew 



I02 



Builders oj Our Nation 



165 s 

War with the Dutch 
threatened 



Do you not like to believe that when Winslow 
returned from Boston he went straight to Duxbury to 
talk it over with his captain, and that William Bradford 
dropped in, and that the three staunch friends sat 
together— perhaps with Hobomok in a nearby corner, 
half understanding what they said ? 

Edward Winslow told how Massachusetts Bay, 
Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth, after a month 
of hard work, had formed a union which they 
called "The United Colonies of 
New England." Two represent- 
atives from each of these col- 
onies were to meet in a congress 
once every year. They were not 
to meddle with one another's 
private affairs; but were to decide 
matters of general interest, such 
as the declaration of war, treaties 
of peace, raising revenues, and 
levying troops. 

These three friends must have thought of the 
paper they had signed together in the cabin of the 
Mayflower — the very beginning of self-government in 
America. But they could not know that this New Eng- 
land union for self-government would lead to still 
another union, greater than it was within the power 
of man then to believe — the union of the United States 
of America. 

One day news came that England was at war with 
her old friend the Netherlands, and that English ships 
were under sail to attack the Dutch settlements along 




Miles Standish 103 

the Hudson River. "The United Colonies of New 
England" called for troops to aid in the war. 

Miles Standish, still the captain-in-chief of Plymouth, 
buckled on his armor and reached for his musket and 
sword. He drilled his men, and was waiting for orders 
when news came that a treaty of peace had been made. 1655 

That same year Edward Winslow died at sea. The Edward winsiow 
following year Captain Miles Standish ended his busy ^656 
life at Duxbury. And before the close of another year standish 
William Bradford died. Winslow, the diplomat of ^^57 

T-.1 10 T 1 • 11- ir 1 Death of William 

Plymouth, Standish, its soldier, Bradford, its historian Bradford 
— all three of these men helped to found New England, 
and perhaps most gratitude is due to the hot-tempered, 
kindly captain of Plymouth. 




The East India 
Company 

Amsterdam 



PETER STUYVESANT 

THE LAST DUTCH GOVERNOR 

1607-1672 

ETER STUYVESANT was born in a small 
town in Friesland.' Friesland was a prov- 
ince of the Netherlands — just a stretch of 
coast half drowned in the German Ocean. 
Indeed, Friesland would have been quite 
washed away if the thrifty Dutchmen who 
lived there had not built dykes of mud, 
stones, and sticks, as the beaver builds its 
dam, and set up windmills with whirring wings to 
pump the water out. 

Peter's father was a clergyman who spent more 
time with the things of heaven than with those of 
earth, and his family sometimes went hungry. 

The good dominie apprenticed the lad to a merchant 
in his town. After a time he sent him to 
Amsterdam' in the service of the East 
India Company. 

Amsterdam, on the Zuyder Zee, was 
called the Venice of the North. ^ Its 
streets were canals lined with tall 
warehouses, from which flat-bot- 
tomed boats sped back and forth on 
the seas like shuttles weaving a net- 
work of trade. 

At first Peter unloaded boats, pushed wheelbarrows, 




PETER STUYVESANT 
1607-1672 



I See map, p. 90. 



2 See description of Venice, p. 14. 
104 



Peter Stuyvesant 105 

and rolled casks; but his strong, eager face and manly 
ways soon won him a place in the counting-house. 
Here he often had a glimpse into the books of the East 
India Company, with long lists of many curious drugs 
and spices. The name he liked best was kruidnagel. 
That was the Dutch name for clove. Just five islands 
in the East Indies produced that little brown spice. The dove 
The Persians, the Arabs, the Chinese, and the Japanese 
had all, at one time or another, struggled for possession 
of the islands. Sometimes a single cargo of cloves 
had cost a thousand lives. Finahy the Portuguese 
secured the good will of the natives. Then King Philip 
of Spain seized Portugal's trade routes. ' And then the 
Dutch East India Company outsailed the Spaniards 
to carry off the clove trade. 

It was a real delight to Peter to see kruidnagel in 
the shipping list of the East India Company. He was 
always glad when his countrymen got the better of the 
Spaniards. Spanish kings had sent army after army 
into Friesland. They had burnt towns, and they had Spanish armies in 
drowned towns by opening dykes, until the hardy ' '^ ^""^ '"''"' ' 
Dutch joined arms with the English and set up a 
republic called "The United Netherlands." 

After the political war with Spain was over, a trade 
war was begun. Peter Stuyvesant longed to try his 
hand at giving the Spaniards a lesson or two. While 
still very young he took service in the West Indies, and stuyvesant goes to 
neither his tongue nor his sword ever rusted for want 
of use. He pleased his company so well that he was 
made governor of Curaf oa* an island in the Caribbean 
Sea, where the Dutch had a trading station. 

' See Sir Francis Drake, p. 69. 



io6 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Stuyvesant returns to 

Amsterdam 



160Q 
Henry Hudson 
discovers the Hudson 
River 



The West India 
Company 



The States-General 



Governor Stuyvesant led expeditions against his 
Spanish and Portuguese neighbors until he was once 
wounded so badly that he returned to Amsterdam for 
medical aid. His leg was cut off, and the loss was 
supplied with a wooden leg, trimmed with silver bands. 

Stuyvesant had made both friends and enemies in 
Curafoa. His friends wrote home that he had shown 
Roman courage in his last battle. But his enemies 
wrote that "stiff-necked Peter" had 'carried on with 
such bluster that the powder was gone before the 
Portuguese ships had come within gunshot. 

The brave soldier stamped down all opposition, with 
his wooden leg. He married Judith Bayard, a French 
lady of high social rank, and said he was again quite 
ready for some new undertaking. 

Now Henry Hudson, in the service of the East India 
Company, while trying to find a short cut to India, 
had discovered a broad river in North America where 
Indians would sell beaver skins for just nothing at all. 

Furs were much used in the cold, stoveless countries 
of Europe and they brought a good price. Dutch 
merchants found the Hudson River so profitable that 
they organized the West India Company to trade with 
the Indians on a large scale. 

The States-General (the government of the United 
Netherlands) claimed a right to the country because of 
Hudson's discoveries. They accordingly called it New 
Netherlands and granted to the West India Com- 
pany all the land between Delaware Bay and the Con- 
necticut River." Fort Orange,' where Albany now 



I See map, p. 107. 



Peter Stuyvesant 



107 



stands, was settled. Brooklyn, on Long Island, and 
New Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island, where the 
company's governor lived, and many other thrifty 
trading posts flourished amazingly. 

The company's agents made friends with the 
Iroquois' who dwelt along the banks of the Mohawk 
River and the south shore of Lake Ontario. They 
carried trinkets, hatchets, beads, and blankets to Fort 
Orange and piled them up in the fort, to wait till the 
Iroquois came with their pelts. 

A long line of canoes would come down the Mohawk 
to near its mouth. The Indians and their 
squaws then carried their packs of furs down 
a narrow trail to the fort where they chaffered 
and yelped until everything was sold, to the 
great profit of the Dutch. 

The West India Company heard how French 
traders were settling the country north of them 
and how English Puritans were pushing their 
colonies toward the Connecticut River. They knew if 
they kept possession of New Netherlands they must 
increase the Dutch population. The company accord- 
ingly offered large tracts of land to stockholders. 
Whoever established a colony of fifty persons in New 
Netherlands, had the right to purchase from the Indi- 
ans sixteen miles of land along one bank of a river, 
or eight miles along opposite banks. He was to farm 
his land through tenants like the patroons (lords of Thepatroons 
the manor) in the fatherland. The patroon on the 
Hudson might trade in everything except furs and fire- 




NEW NETHERLANDS 



' See Hiawatha, p. 6. 



io8 



Builders of Our Nation 



The patroons trade 
in furs 



War with the Indians 



William Kieft 



arms, which the company reserved for their own profit. 

Killian Van Rensselaer and other Dutchmen of 
wealth planted colonies along the upper Hudson. 
Farms were laid out, trim little huts clustered around 
the great mansions of the patroons, and for a while 
everything in New Netherlands prospered. 

Meantime the fur ships of the West India Company 
plied continually past the farm lands. The profits of 
the company set the patroons to thinking how fine it 
would be to trade in furs on their own account, though 
they knew very well such trade was against the law. 

They exchanged a few blankets for some beaver 
skins; these they sent to Europe with such profit that 
they exchanged a few more. In the end the patroons 
openly defied the company's governor who lived in 
New Amsterdam, at the mouth of the river. They 
even sold guns to the Indians, which was breaking 
another law. 

Some Indians from the Connecticut River, armed 
with the patroon's guns, swooped down on New Amster- 
dam to burn, kill, scalp, and hurry away. 

The good burghers sent such constant complaints 
to the company that one governor after the other was 
called home in disgrace. 

About the time Peter Stuyvesant came back to the 
Netherlands with a wounded leg, the governor of New 
Netherlands was William Kieft. Kieft was a quarrel- 
some, fussy, sharp-nosed little man, who mixed himself 
up in everything without bringing any order. He had 
no control over the haughty patroons. He quarreled 
with the Puritan English along the Connecticut River. 



Peter Stuyvesant 109 

He angered the Iroquois so that they threatened to dig 
up the hatchet they had buried under the Dutch church. 

Finally the complaints of the good burghers grew so 
loud against Governor Kieft that the company ordered 
him home. 

Who could force the patroons into obedience, build 
up the fur trade, and make friends with the rival 
colonies ? 

The West India Company met many times in the 
great guildhall of Amsterdam to discuss what man 
might mend their fortunes. 

"Why not try Stuyvesant?" asked someone at 
length. 

''The very man!" 

'''Stiff-necked,' gentlemen, 'stiff-necked!' Those 
are the very words from Curagoa." 

"Aye, but 'tis a stiff neck needed to bring those 
patroons to terms!" 

"Stuyvesant's as brave as a lion; even his enemies 
say that." 

There was talk, talk, talk, and a vast deal of smoke 
from long pipes before a paper was signed making stuyvesant appointed 
Peter Stuyvesant the governor who should succeed Nethe"rkn°ds 
William Kieft. 

Across the ocean hurried the news that Peter Stuy- 
vesant, who had won victories in the West Indies, was 
coming. When his fleet drew near, all New Amster- 
dam was down at the Battery to greet him. Even some 
patroons from the upper Hudson were there to look 
the new governor over. 

The patroons had driven into town in coaches-and- 



no Builders of Our Nation 

four. They wore velvet and gold lace, with swords 
at their sides and curled wigs topped by broad, pointed 
hats. The common people drew a little apart at sight 
of these very grand personages. They no more thought 
of assuming such dress than private citizens today 
think of strutting about in a general's gold epaulets. 
The common people wore stout shoes, coarse stockings, 
baggy trousers to the knee, and their hair pasted fiat. 
Their wives, the good vrouws, wore short skirts and 
kerchiefs, and their boys and girls, bunched solemnly 
together, with sideways stares at the splendid patroons 
and "patroonesses," looked quite like make-believe 
grown-ups. 

And so this Dutch crowd waited at the Battery for 
the governor, with here and there a blanketed Indian as 
curious as any to see the new chief. 
The new governor Guns from thc crumbHng fort boomed, drums beat, 

a trumpeter blew a blast, a squad of soldiers presented 
arms, and the governor stepped ashore. 

He was in his regimentals. His coat was brass- 
buttoned from chin to waist, with its skirts turned up 
at the corners. His yellow breeches, his wig stiff with 
oil, his. wooden leg in its silver bands, his shapely left 
shoe with a ribbon rosette, his gold-headed cane, his 
bright-hilted sword, all created a very profound impres- 
sion as he stumped to the Battery from the boat. 

People shouted themselves hoarse and threw up 
their caps. Orange flags waved, guns boomed again. 
And then the new governor proceeded with rather a 
lofty air to the fort. 

Stuyvesant began a reform in New Amsterdam. 



arrives at New 
Amsterdam 



Peter Stuyvesant iii 

He set up placards that drunkenness and sabbath- Reforms 
breaking must cease, and that cattle and hogs must 
be fenced up or pastured. He ordered houses set back 
from the streets on a line. He organized a fire brigade. 
He established a ferry across the East River. He wrote 
to the company for schoolmasters to teach the children. 

When he had reduced the town to something like 
order, he sailed up the Hudson to Fort Orange, hauled 
down the flag of Patroon Van Rensselaer and hoisted 
the colors of the West India Company. Then he sum- 
moned the Iroquois to a council to see that the flag 
was up. And his wooden leg with its silver bands 
struck such awe in the hearts of the warriors that they 
promised to bury the hatchet deeper than ever under 
the little Dutch church. 

He went in state to Hartford, Connecticut, to settle 
the boundary line between the Dutch and the English, ^he Dutch and the 
He organized a government for New Amsterdam — ^°^^'' 
burgomaster (mayor), schout (sheriff), and schepens 
(aldermen). He gave the people of the whole province 
the privilege of choosing representatives to confer with 
himself and his council. 

The board did not always agree with their governor. 
Some called him " Plard-koppigge Piet" (Headstrong 
Peter), and some scoffed at ''Old Silver Leg." But 
the affairs of the colony flourished amazingly under 
his rule. 

Meantime a naval war had broken out between 
England and the Netherlands. News came that four warwnthNew 
English ships had reached Boston to take on New E"^'-'^ "^-^'-«^ 
England troops to attack New Netherlands, and that 



112 Builders of Our Nation 

Captain Miles Standish' of Plymouth was rallying his 
men with the rest. 

It was Peter Stuyvesant's first chance to fight since 
he lost his leg. He set all able men to work. He built 
a stockade on the land side of New Amsterdam.^ He 
strengthened the fort toward the water side and was 
just ready to say to the English, "Come on!" when 
peace was patched up between the two fatherlands. 

Years went by. The West India Company grew 
richer and the towns of New Netherlands prospered. 

The good burghers built houses of wood with high- 
gabled ends of black and yellow brick. There were 
no storks' nests on the roof-tops as at home, but there 
were sure to be weathercocks that turned with all the 
giddy winds from the bay. 

Within the houses were wide fireplaces, where at 
night the logs blazed cheerily to show the Bible pic- 
tures on the tiles brought from the old country. The 
floors were covered with white sand marked into pretty 
figures with the handle of a birch broom. Everything was 
neat and clean ; for the Dutch women were good house- 
keepers. They were good cooks, too, and there were 
great times with crullers and cakes and gingers at 
Easter, Christmas, and New Year. If a boy or girl 
and New Year jj^ Ncw Amsterdam had a birthday, it was sure to be 

celebrated with a cake set over with candles numl)ering 
the years. 

The good burghers were slow, and did not make so 
much money as the Puritans of Ncw England; but 
they did not spend so much. They l)uilt their own 

• Sec p. I02. 2 Along what is now Wall Street, New York City. 



Easter, Christmas, 



Peter Stuyvesant 113 

ships to send tar, timber, and tobacco to Europe. 
Many had gardens just out of town, and after the work 
was done they sat on the stoops of the houses to smoke 
and talk till time to light pine knots for bed. 

Now the United Netherlands claimed New Nether- 
lands because of Henry Hudson's discoveries; but 
England claimed the region because of the discoveries 
of the Cabots. Charles the Second, King of England, 
believing the country to be his, granted the whole region 
to his brother, the Duke of York. The duke knew The Duke of York 
very well that he must reckon with Peter Stuyvesant 
before he could hope to call the land his. He accord- 
ingly armed four frigates and sped them away to New 
England to take on a land force. The United Colonies 
of New England promised their quota of men and the 
fleet sailed to New Amsterdam Bay. 

The commander of the expedition sent a letter to 
Stuyvesant to surrender his fort. 

"Surrender the majestic province of New Nether- 
lands to four Endish fris-ates ! Never!" 

So said Governor Stuyvesant. 

He tore up the insolent letter and stamped on it 
with his wooden leg. His council begged him to 
consider the matter. But he would listen to nothing 
anyone said. He set the burghers to work with spades, 
shovels, wheelbarrows, axes, and hammers. 

The English ships drew nearer. English guns were 
leveled on the fort. In the end, the doughty old soldier 
surrendered. What else could he do with twenty guns 
against ninety-four ? He marched out of the fort with 
the honors of war — drums beating, colors flying, and a 



114 



Builders of Our Nation 



New Netherlands 
becomes New York 



1672 
Peter Stuyvesant 
dies in New York 



bugle playing ''Wilhelmiis of Nassau," which was the 
national air. 

And so the English took possession of the Dutch 
colony. They changed the name of New Amsterdam 
to New York, and of Fort Orange to Albany. Burgo- 
master, schout, and schepens gave place to mayor, 
sheriff, and aldermen. English settlers came. But 
the Dutch settlers remained, and their language and 
customs continued in New York for many years. 
Even today we have the Dutch Easter and Christmas 
and New Year feasts. The solemn Puritans did not 
believe in such merriment. 

Peter Stuyvesant went back to Amsterdam; but he 
soon returned to New York where he lived on a farm, 
called the Bowery, with fifty slaves to work the soil. 
He occupied himself in church affairs and city improve- 
ments and never spared his advice. It was said after 
his death that he still lingered about — that he could be 
heard at midnight stumping up and down the aisles of 
the little church where he had been laid away to rest. 

But that was said in times when some people believed 
in witches and ghosts ! 




NIAGARA FALLS 



LA SALLE 

THE FATHER OF LOUISIANA TERRITORY 

1643-1687 

N THE gray old town of 
Rouen,' in the ancient 
French province of Nor- 
mandy, Robert Cavelier 
de la Salle went about 
his tasks with dreams in 
his head. He was maitre, 
or teacher, in the Jesuit^ school. He 
wore a long, black robe and a round, black 
cap. His face was grave, though he could 
count scarce years enough to be called 
a man. 
Maitre La Salle was severe, but just. When- 
ever the hour came, every boy hastened to his 
seat on the long bench in the church school. 
Not one of them all could see over the back of 
the bench; but Maitre La Salle could look out 
over their heads through a long arcade. He 
could see the city sloping southward and the 
quaint gray houses along the Seine River and 
the boats passing up and down. Now and then a tall, 
narrow, fishing smack hove into view. 

One day he said: ''You may go to the door, lads. 
Watch that sail coming in!" 

' See map, p. 116. 

' The Jesuits are an orticr of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. 

"5 



1643 

I.a Salle bom 




LA SALLE 
1643 - 1687 



ii6 



Builders of Our Nation 




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avre 




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1665 

M;ip of the 
Western Hemisphere 



Smith America 

Mexico 

C;difornia 



Florida 



Virginia 



There was a rush to the door, with some spilling out 
under the open arcade — much to the scandal of a 
passing old monk. 

"Where has this boat been, lads?" asked Maitre 
La Salle. 

" To the cod fisheries !" 
"No doubt of that. But where?" 
"Off Norway!" "To Greenland!" "To the Eng- 
lish coast!" cried a chorus. 
"You must guess again." 
"'Tisold Michelet's boat," 
explained one of the oldest 
boys. 

"Yes! 'Tis Michelet's 

boat. He goes to America for 

his fish. He has crossed the 

Atlantic once every year for 

twenty years to bring dried fish 

for Lent and fast days. Look 

well to the dingy sails." 

He summoned the boys to the bench again. He held 

up a map — a stretch of North and South America as 

the geographers understood it in the year 1665. 

He put his lean white finger on the West India 
Islands, and on South America where the mines of 
Peru were, and on Mexico with its gold mines, and on 
California that bordered on the Pacific Ocean. 

"All these countries," he said, "are claimed by the 
Spaniards; and Florida, northwest of the Indies, is 
claimed by them, too." 

He pointed to the English colony of Virginia' and 

' Sec map, p. 134. 



La Salle 



117 



to Maryland, which had been settled by the English Maryland 
Lord Calvert, a good Catholic; and to the New Nether- New York 
lands, a Dutch settlement, which had been seized that 
very year by the Duke of York and made an English 
province. ' Then his bony finger passed on up along 
the coast of New England. 

"All these are English," he said, with a frown. 
"West of them stretch lands, lads. Ah, no one knows 
what lands." 

He pointed to Acadia, "^ a great French colony near Acadia 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. 

"Here we are on French soil!" he cried. "Here is 
where old Michelet finds his cod. This little settlement 
on the west coast of Acadia is Port Royal. Now let 
us go up this splendid St. Lawrence. All the land 
along this river is New France. Jacques Cartier 
founded Montreal far up on its right bank ; and Samuel Montreal 
Champlain built a fort at Quebec. Both points are Quebec 
flourishing stations, where the pelts of the moose, the 
bear, the beaver, the marten, the fox, the lynx, and many 
other animals are purchased cheaper than anywhere 
else in the world." 

"Our Jesuit fathers follow the fur traders. They 
are changing the heathenish red men into good Cath- 
olics." 

The great bell in the tower of St. Oucn's chimed the 
hour. Maitre La Salle laid down the map and the boys ^ jesuit priest 
scattered to drone through a class with an old friar 
they did not like half so well. 

Perhaps it was a talk La Salle had with old Michelet 
that caused him to quit the Jesuit school. At any rate 



Port Royal 



Js'ew France 




' See map, p. 107. 



2 Nova Scotia. 



ii8 



Builders of Our Nation 



1666 

La Salle goes to 
America 



The fur trader 



The Mississippi 
Kivcr 



Governor Frontenac 



he set out for America the following year. He went to 
Montreal, where his brother was a priest of St. Sulpice. 

Montreal was then only a small village, with forests 
— tall, dark forests — everywhere; and there was always 
the roar of the rapids in the St. Lawrence River which 
churned and foamed with such fury that the noise was 
heard for miles. 

La Salle secured a tract of land above the rapids for 
which he was to pay the Sulpice fathers in furs. He 
exchanged his long black gown for the buckskin worn 
by the fur traders. He built a log hut, cleared forests, 
and planted corn. He made friends with the Indians, 
and was presently carrying large packs of furs to Mont- 
real and Quebec. 

The Indians told him so much about the Mississippi, 
a great river in the west which flowed to the salt sea, 
that he began dreaming again. Did this river reach 
the Pacific Ocean ? Then it would be the great water- 
way to China and the Spice Islands ! 

He could not rest after this idea entered his head. 
He tried to persuade some of the other traders to join 
with him in an expedition ; but they only laughed at his 
ideas, and called his hut La Chine, which is the French 
word for China. La Salle pushed deeper and deeper 
into the forest, with only his faithful compass for his 
guide. Sometimes he was gone for weeks. Finally 
he paddled down the St. Lawrence to Quebec. He 
obtained permission from Governor Frontenac to 
explore French territory. Here he fitted out four 
canoes with supplies for fourteen men, and the priests 
of St. Sulpice fitted out three canoes for ten men. 



La Salle 



119 



With two additional canoes full of Indian guides, 
La Salle began his search for a waterway to China. 

He reached the River Beautiful (the Ohio), and TheOhioRher 
followed its westward current as far as the site of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. He was quite persuaded that the 
river flowed straight west to the Pacific Ocean. Its 
valley was so beautiful, with its herds of deer and droves 
of buffalo and towns of velvet-coated beaver, that he 
hurried back to Quebec to tell Governor Frontenac 
all about it. 

"I have not reached the salt sea, your excellency," 
he said. "The Ohio flows west. Perchance it is what 
we seek. Yet we must secure the fur trade before the 
English find the way." 

He showed a map he had dtawn. 

''See," he said. ''Here is Lake Ontario. All along 
its south shore are the Iroquois who sell furs to th( 
Dutch and English of New York. They go 
down the Mohawk to Albany.' They should 
go down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and 
Quebec.^ Give me a fort at the mouth of 
Lake Ontario, and the Iroquois will favor us." 

Now Governor Frontenac had spent a for- 
tune at the gay court of Louis the Fourteenth. 
He had come to America to try to make money 
enough to live his extravagant life over again. louisxiv 

La Salle's fur schemes promised great profit. He 
accordingly sent the young trader to France with let- i.a saiie goes to 
ters to some of his most powerful friends. 

La Salle's well-laid plans proved so alluring that 

' See map, p. 170. ' See map, p. 123. 




France 



I20 



Builders of Our Nation 



La Salle returns to 
America 

Father Hennepin 



l'"ort I'rontenac 



King Louis granted to him a vast tract of land bordering 
on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. On the ship 
on which La Salle returned went Father Hennepin, a 
monk quite as young as himself. Father Hennepin 
wore the gray cloak of the Franciscans,' with a peaked 
hood; a cord was around his waist, and a cross hung 
at his side. He told La Salle he had once been sent 
to Calais^ at the season of the herring fisheries to beg 
alms for the church. He had made friends with the 
sailors and had become so interested in New France 
that he obtained leave from the fathers to go there as a 
missionary. 

La Salle and Father Hennepin became fast friends 
during the voyage, and when the fur trader built Fort 
Frontenac^ (on the present site of Kingston) he added 
a little chapel where the priest might say mass. 

Fort Frontenac had ramparts of stone with palisades 
of logs on the water side. Cannon were mounted on 
the wall. There were barracks and a guard house, a 
lodging for officers, a smithy, a mill, and a bakery. The 
land around the fort was laid out in small farms, which 
La Salle rented to French peasants. 

La Salle and Father Hennepin made peace with 
many of the Iroquois. The warriors came to regard 
La Salle as a magician. His windmill tossed its long 
arms around so queerly; his magnifying glass made 
monsters out of flies and fleas; his compass seemed 
trembling with life; his clock on the wall of the fort — 
well, his clock was surely a strange creature. The 
blanketed Indians squatted for hours before the clock. 

' The Franciscans are an order of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. 
2 See map, p. ii6. 3 See map, p. 123. 



La Salle 



121 




PERE MARQUETTE 
1637-1675 



They thought it was alive, and that the "tic, tack, 
tic, tack" was a language quite as queer as the English. 

"What does the captain say?" they would ask, 
meaning the clock. 

La Salle or Father Hennepin would make it say 
whatever seemed best. But when the clock struck 
four it was always understood that the captain said 
"Get up and go." And the warriors gravely left 
their hosts in peace. 

The fur trade at Fort Frontenac flourished amaz- 
ingly. Joliet, a young trader, brought word to La Salle joiiet 
that he and Father Marquette had reached the Mis- Father Rfarqueite 
sissippi River. Joliet said 
he had gone down the cur- 
rent as far as the Arkan- 
sas River and was sure 
the "salt sea" the Indians 
talked about was not the 
Pacific Ocean, but the Gulf 
of Mexico. A little later a "^^ 
trapper brought news that 
when Joliet reached Que- ^j^^^^^ft^ 
bee to tell of this great 
river, the bells of the town marquette going down the Mississippi 

clanged merrily all day long. 

So the Mississippi flowed to the south ? La Salle 
thought it all over. And then he began to dream again. 

He said that the Mississippi flowing into the gulf 
and thence into the Atlantic Ocean would make a better 
highway for the fur trade than the St. Lawrence River, 
which was frozen so many months of the year and had 
the falls and the rapids to obstruct the boats. 




122 



Builders of Our Nation 



I.a Salle again goes 
to France 




LOUIS JOLIET 
1645-1700 



Chevalier de Tonli 



Fort Conti 



The Griffin 



Leaving Fort Frontenac in care of a lieutenant, 
La Salle sailed again for France. He told the king's 
minister he wanted to plant forts along the valleys 
of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to keep out the 
English traders, whose kings had granted charters 
from "sea to sea." 

He said the first link of a long chain of forts 
was Fort Frontenac, which was drawing the fur 
trade of the Iroquois. The second link of the chain 
should be at the mouth of Lake Erie. The English 
were watching Lake Erie because it was the key to 
the trade of the three lakes above it— Lake Huron, 
Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. 

In the end the king granted to him the right to build 
forts and explore such new countries as he might deem 
best. 

La Salle met in Paris, Chevalier de Tonti, a young 
officer in the French army, who had lost his hand in 
battle and supplied the loss with a hand of iron. 

Tonti burned with zeal to aid in the work of planting 
colonies for France. He accompanied La Salle back 
to the St. Lawrence, and proved his lifelong friend. 

La Salle called the Iroquois to a grand council. He 
gave them scarlet cloth, hatchets, beads, and smooth 
words until they permitted him to erect Fort Conti at 
the mouth of Lake Erie' — a second link in his long 
chain of foits. 

Above Niagara Falls he built a brigantine with a 
griffin carved on its prow. The Grijjin was loaded 
with furs to be exchanged at Fort Conti for provi- 
sions and materials for building other forts. 

' See map, p. 123. 



La Salle 



123 



erect 



Meantime La Salle and Tonti explored Lake Michi- Fon Miami 
gan in canoes. They built Fort Miami at the mouth 
of the St. Joseph River — the third link in the chain of 
forts. 

Weeks passed. They watched in vain for the Griffin 
with the supplies for their trip down the Mississippi. 
At last they decided to attempt the voyage in canoes. 
Without waiting further they paddled up the St. Joseph 
to a portage, and down the Kankakee 
and Illinois, stopping now and then 
smoke the pipe of peace and to 
crosses in the open squares of 
Indian towns. 

They knew they must be 
approaching the great Father of 
Waters. The Indians told hor- 
rible stories of the fate of those 
who dared trust their canoes to 
its bosom. When they said de- 
mons swallowed up both men and 
canoes, most of the company 

deserted. Without men or supplies, things looked very 
discouraging to La Salle and Father Hennepin and to 
Tonti of the iron hand. Near the site of what is now 
the city of Peoria they built a fort, which La Salle called 
Crevecoeur (the broken heart) — a fourth link in his chain, 
and the first white settlement in the state of Illinois. 

I^a Salle sent Father Hennepin down the Illinois to 
the Mississippi to explore its upper banks, and leaving 
Tonti at Fort Crevecoeur to finish a boat which would 
carry them down the great river to its mouth, he 
returned to Fort Frontenac for supplies. 




Fort Crevecoeur 



124 Builders of Our Nation 

At Fort Frontenac he learned that the Grijji)i with 

Tonii's letter jts Hch cargo of furs was lost. Then a letter from 

Tonti reached him. Tonti wrote that an Indian war 

was under way near Fort Crevecoeur. His men had 

deserted him, and he was alone. 

Fearing for his friend's life, La Salle hurried back to 
the fort. He found the building in ruins. Skulls lay 
about in the long prairie grass. Was Tonti's skull 
among the rest ? Skeletons bleached in the sun. La 
Salle said with a shudder that he would know Tonti's 
remains by his iron hand. 

With anguish in his heart he continued his search. 
He paddled down the Illinois to its mouth and saw 
for the first time the great water highway to the gulf. 
But he had no wish to pursue his voyage until he could 
learn what had been the fate of his friend. La Salle 
retraced his anxious way until he learned that Tonti 
had escaped to Green Bay. He hastened to join Tonti, 
and together they proceeded to Montreal, where Gov- 
ernor Frontenac helped fit out four new boats to explore 
the Mississippi. 

A party of fifty-four — eighteen Indian warriors, ten 
squaws, three papooses, and twenty-three Frenchmen 
From the Illinois — procccdcd to thc HHnois, and then to the Mississippi. 
They floated down the river between prairies and 
beetling crags and gloomy forests. The fresh water 
grew brackish. The brackish water changed to brine. 
Reeds as tall as the head lined the low shores. A 
north wind sped on the boats. Presently the gulf 
spread out to view. Over its placid waters skimmed 
birds of rare plumage. Alligators heaved heavily up 



River to the gulf 



La Salle 125 

like huge, black logs. Thousands of insects buzzed 
incessantly. 

La Salle pointed to the west and to the east. 

"'Spain claims all this country," he said to Tonti, 
"but France owns it now." 

"Aye," said Tonti of the iron hand, "France owns 
it now." 

La Salle pointed north. 

"The English kings give 'sea to sea' charters," he 
said, "but the lilies of France' are planted." 

"Aye," said Tonti, "the lilies of France are planted." 

La Salle set up a pillar carved with the arms of 

.... ^"°2 

France. And all the vast valley of the Mississippi — La saiie takes 

from the frozen north to the reed lands of the south, MSXpi°vaiiey 

from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains — he (^p"'?) 

called Louisiana,^ after his king, Louis XIV. Louisiana 

He ascended the Mississippi and the Illinois. At 
Starved Rock, above the ruins of Fort Crevecoeur, and 
near the present city of La Salle, he built Fort St. Louis pon st. Louis 
— the fifth link in his chain. Then, because of their 
dread that the Iroquois would again swoop down from 
the east, the western Indians swarmed to Fort St. Louis. 
Twenty thousand Indians dwelt in lodges at the fort 
of Starved Rock — a vast army to lead south if the 
Spaniards of Mexico should try to hinder a French 
settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi! 

By this time La Salle was dreaming again. He left 
Tonti at Fort St. Louis and returned to France. The La saiie's third visit 
fur trader dressed himself in satin and lace and a per- '° ^'^"''^ 

" Lilies were the symbol of the French kings. 
* Also called New France. See map, p. 123. 



126 



Builders of Our Nation 



La Salle talks 
Louis XIV 




William Penn i 
rennsylvania'' 



with fumed wig. He went to the great palace of Versailles' 
and had audience with King Louis. It was a long 
audience behind closed doors. The talk was about 
secret affairs of state. 

La Salle told the king how he had planted five forts 
,__-" • .^_— =...-. _^^ on the highway which led 

from the lakes to the 

Gulf of Mexico ; how the 

English were spreading 

toward the Alleghanies, 

and would presently cross 

the mountains unless the 

French kept them out; 

and how that very year 

VERSAILLES a rlch English Quaker, 

named Penn, had started another colony, and was 

making friends with the western Indians.' 

He told how he had reached the mouth of the ]\Iis- 
sissippi, at the place where it divided into three great 
channels. He had descended one channel and Cheva- 
lier de Tonti the second, and another of his men the 
third. They had reached the gulf where the Spaniards 
claimed everything. He said he wanted to plant forts 
at each mouth of the great river — three forts like three 
pendants to his great chain of forts. Then — here old 
King Louis must have looked anxiously at the closed 
doors — then he would lead thousands of Indians from 
Fort St. Louis against the Spaniards of Mexico and 
seize their rich mines. 

Now the Spaniards had been capturing French 
merchant vessels that tried to trade in Mexico. And 



• See map, p. ii6. ^ ggg William Penn, p. 134. 



La Salle 127 

so the king listened eagerly to a plan to punish them. 

His majesty gave La Salle four ships. One of the 
ships, the Joly, carried thirty-six guns. Many colonists LaSaiie-s colony for 
joined the expedition. Captain Beaujeu, who was an 
officer of the royal navy, was put in charge of the ships, captain Beaujeu 

Beaujeu was jealous of La Salle from the very 
beginning. A half dozen quarrels were patched up 
between the two before the voyage began. In the Gulf 
of Mexico the ships became separated. La Salle mis- 
took Matagorda Bay' for one of the mouths of the 
Mississippi. He landed on the shore of the bay, and The colony on 
built a stockade and a fort. Presently Beaujeu came, ' '''''^°' "" ^^ 
but after unloading his passengers he sailed away in 
bad humor. 

La Salle and a party of men explored the country. 
They were gone many days. When they returned 
their clothes were "so tattered there was hardly a piece 
left large enough to wrap a farthing's worth of salt." 

Many in the fort had sickened and died, and the , 

Indians were growing unfriendly. La Salle started to 
go to Montreal for aid for his colony. His companions 
quarreled and disputed. One morning, near a branch 
of Trinity River, in a region now called Texas, two of Death of La saue 
the men shot their leader from an ambush, and left 
him lying on the plains. 

Meantime Tonti, at Fort St. Louis, heard that 
La Salle had entered the Gulf of Mexico with a colony. 
Joy ! The dream was near fulfillment. Tonti paddled 
down the Mississippi. He reached the gulf. Day 
after day he searched for the colony that was starving Tonti waits at the 
on IMatagorda Bay, four hundred miles to the west. ^" 

" See map, p. 123. 



128 



Builders of Our Nation 



He returned to Fort St. Louis; but he kept waiting 
for news of his friend until at last he learned of his death. 

Years passed. Tonti heard that a French colony 
had been planted at the mouth of the Mississippi by 
Iberville and Bienville two brothcrs, IbcrviJle and Bienville. One day, while 
the two brothers were busy cutting trees to lay the 
foundation of their fort, a canoe swept down the swift 
current of the Mississippi. In the boat were six red 
rowers with a steersman. And in their midst sat a 
white man of most majestic air. Presently the canoe 
drew near. The man leaped to shore. It was Tonti 
of the iron hand. 

The brothers welcomed the famous pioneer. For 
three days they talked together of La Salle and of his 
dreams, and of the city of New Orleans that the 
brothers were building on the shore of the river which 
the dead hero had won for France. 

Tonti returned to Fort St. Louis. The links in the 
French chain of forts kept increasing. How those forts 
became at last the property of the United States is 
another story. But the name of La Salle will always 
be associated with the names of the valleys he explored. 

"America," says Francis Parkman, "owes an endur- 
ing memory to La Salle, the pioneer who guided her 
to her richest heritage." 



Tonti again 



1718 
Mew Orleans 
founded 



Francis Parkman's 
tribute to La Salle 




1644 

William Pcnn bom 
(October 14) 



Religious persecutions 



THE TREATY ELM 



WILLIAM PENN 

THE FATHER OF PENNSYLVANIA 

I 644-1 7 18 

ILLIAM PENN was 
born on Tower Hill, 
London, at a time when 
at least three classes of 
Christians in England — the 
Puritans, the Catholics, and 
-:.]!! the Quakers— were being perse- 
cuted because they would not con- '" England 
form to the rules of the Established 
Church. 

The persecuted Puritans had 
ceased to go to America. They 
had buckled on their swords to 
fight, not only for religious, but 
for political rights. They were 
often called " Roundheads, " be- 
cause they wore cropped hair 
instead of long curling locks. 

The persecuted Catholics were fleeing to America 
to a colony called Maryland, which Lord Baltimore 
had founded. 

The persecuted Friends (called "Quakers" because The Friends, 
George Fox, their leader, was always warning people 
to quake before the wrath of God) would not fight. 
Their religion forbade it. And they had no colony in 
America to which they could go where they might 

worship as they pleased. 

129 




The Puritans, or 
"Roundheads" 



WILLIAM PENN 
1644-1718 



'Quakers'' 



I30 



Builders of Our Nation 



The Church of 

England 



1649 
Charles I beheaded 



1653 
Cromwell becomes 
Lord Protector 

(December 16) 



1660 
Charles 11 ascends 
the throne 

(May 29) 



William Penn goes 
to Oxford 



William Penn hears 
a Quaker preach 



William Penn's father was not a Puritan, a Catholic, 
nor a Quaker. He belonged to the Church of England. 
And so it would seem that there was no reason to sup- 
pose' that the blue-eyed baby born that day on Tower 
Hill would ever be persecuted on account of his 
religion. 

William's father was an admiral, and fought for his 
country on the high seas. Charles I welcomed Admiral 
Penn at his court. When Charles lost his head because 
he had tried to tax English freemen without their 

consent, Oliver Cromwell, the 
"Roundhead," became Lord 
Protector of England. Crom- 
well sent Penn to sea to fight 
the Spanish, and after the gal- 
lant admiral conquered Ja- 
maica in the West Indies, he 
gave him vast estates. When 
Cromwell's son Richard had 
resigned the rule, and Charles 
n had become king, the admiral was again set a task 
on the sea. 

And so while William Penn was growing up into 
a fine, sturdy lad, he had nothing to fear from either 
religion or politics. At fifteen he went to Oxford to 
school, where he was treated with great respect, partly 
because of his father's high rank, and partly because of 
his scholarly mind and his skill in boating and field 
sports. 

One day he heard a Quaker preach. The Quakers 
wore broad-brimmed hats and long drab coats. They 

' See p. 88. 




OLIVERCROMWELL 
1599-1658 



William Penn 



131 



said "thee" and "thou" instead of "you." They were 

unwilHng to take oath in court, to go to war, or to pay 

taxes in support of war; and they would not bow to 

anyone. After WiUiam Penn heard this peculiar 

preaching, his habits began to change. He refused to 

attend religious services at Oxford, or to wear the long Penn leaves Oxford 

black gown such as other students wore. 

The admiral was grieved when he heard of this 
conduct. He called William home, gave him a very 
full purse, and sent him to Paris with some rich noble- Penn goes to Paris 
men who would be sure to divert his mind from serious 
thoughts. 

The young Englishman's figure was tall and well set. 
His eyes were full of light; his brow was broad, his 
mouth resolute; his hair, parted in the center, waved 
to his shoulders. All in all there was not a handsomer 
youth in France. 

He was presented to King Louis XTV, who was not King Louis xiv 
much older than himself, and he soon became a favorite 
at the French court. 

When William returned home, his father looked him 
over with satisfaction. He carried his sword in the 
French fashion; he lisped fine compliments to the 
ladies; he talked of his duels in the streets of Paris. 
The proud admiral took him to Whitehall, where 
Charles II held court; then he sent him to Lincoln's 
Inn to study law. 

The Black Plague broke out in London. Sometimes The Biack piague 
ten thousand victims died in one day. Penn began 
again to think of religion; but the admiral did not 
despair. He sent his son to Ireland to manage some Penn in Ireland 
Penn estates. 



132 



Builders of Our Nation 



Pcnn in prison 



The Tower 



In Dublin' Penn joined a military expedition to put 
down a mutiny, and he behaved with so much valor 
that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland wrote to the 
admiral that William should have a company of his 
own. The young soldier was so proud of his success 
that he had himself painted in his armor. 

While on business in the city of Cork he heard 
another Quaker sermon. After that he went often to 
their meetings. One day the police broke into the 
meeting-house and arrested all who were there. 

Penn with his laces and frills and bright-hilted sword 
looked so different from his drab-clothed friends that 
the mayor of Cork offered to set him free if he would 
give bond not to atfend the meetings. This the new 
convert refused to do, and remained in prison until a 
powerful nobleman secured his release. 

It was soon noised about London that Penn had 
"turned Quaker or some other melancholy thing." 
The angry father commanded him home and implored 
him to abandon this ridiculous sect. Penn remained 
firm in his faith. He finally even gave up his beloved 
sword that he might better follow those who preached 
"peace and good will to men." 

The admiral turned him out of doors and for some 
time he lived on the secret aid of his mother. 

Meantime Quakers were thrown into prison, set 
in the stocks, and whipped in the public streets. When 
Penn himself was imprisoned in the Tower ' for preach- 
ing Quaker doctrines, his father, who had learned to 
admire his courage, paid his fine and received him with 
open arms. 

I Sec map, p. 62. ^ gee illustration, p. 133. 



William Penn 



m 




THE TOWER OF LONDON 



Before the admiral died, he sent for Prince James, james, Duke of York 
the Duke of York, to beg him to protect his Quaker 
son from persecution, and this the duke promised to do. 

Penn inherited vast estates. He traveled in Europe Penn travels in Europe 
to preach, and wherever he went 
he heard Quakers sighing ''^'^'■'' ~^\MM 

for a country where they 
might worship as they 
pleased. 

Now, as we have seen, 
King Charles II had giv- 



en to the Duke of York 
all of New Netherlands in Amer- 
ica. ' That part of the Dutch prov- 
ince east of the Delaware became 
New Jersey, and was divided into East and West 
Jersey by Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, to 
whom the duke had given it. 

A Quaker company purchased West Jersey from Quakers purchase 
Lord Berkeley and began to send settlers there. Wil- 
liam Penn was made a trustee for West Jersey. He 
became so interested in the colony that he joined eleven 
other men of means and purchased East Jersey for 
another settlement of Quakers. 

Then Penn resolved to have a province all his own 
which should be a refuge and place of peace for himself 
and any other human being who was persecuted for 
the sake of religion. 

The English crown owed his father's estate a large 
sum of money. Penn again went to court. This tirhe Quaker Ponn goes 
he wore a long drab coat and a broad-brimmed hat 



' See p. 113. 



134 



Builders of Our Nation 



Charles II sells 
"Pennsylvania" 
(February 14) 



PENN IN QUAKER 
GARB 





which he would not remove even in the royal presence. 

The fun-loving king took off his own hat. ''Friend 

Charles," asked Penn, "why dost thou remove thy 

hat?" "Because," laughed the king, 

"wherever I am it is the fashion for 

but one to remain covered !" Penn, 

unmoved at the rebuke, asked " Friend 

Charles" to pay the crown debt with 

a grant of land west of the Delaware 

River, and north of Maryland where 

the Catholics had settled. 

The "merry monarch," thinking this a cheap way 
to settle the debt, made out a patent for a vast tract of 
land. What name should be written down in the 
patent? Penn liked "New Wales" because he had 
heard mountains were there like the mountains in old 
Wales.' But the king's secretary was a Welshman. 
He did not want the home of the "crazy Quakers" 
named after his fatherland. 

Penn then said the province might be called "Syl- 
vania" because it was well wooded. And the king 
smilingly added that the name should be "Penn- 
sylvania"— Penn's Woodland— in honor of the old 
admiral, whose claim against the crown was now paid. 

When it was known that Penn, the rich Quaker, 
was founding a colony in America which should be 
without laws against any religion, people from all over 
Europe wrote letters or sent agents to London to find 
out about it. But the courtiers of Charles laughed 
aloud about the "coward" Quakers who would not 
carry swords, going across the sea to live among Indians. 

' See map, p. 62. 



William Penn 



135 



Pennsylvania 




The purchase of 
Delaware 



178- 



They said not a soul would be alive in a week's time. 

A shipload of Quakers sailed to Pennsylvania in immigraiion to 
care of an agent. Others followed. Before the year 
was out nearly three thousand 
had sailed for Pennsylvania. 

The next year Penn himself 
set sail, but before he went he 
bought some more land. Dela- 
ware,' between the Jerseys and 
Maryland, lay at the mouth of 
the Delaware River and was a 
part of the province of New 
York. Penn wanted to control 

the navigation of the river, and purchased this land 
from the Duke of York. When he reached Newcastle, P^nn arrives at 

Newcastle 

the duke's agent, in the presence of a crowd of people (October 27) 
— Swedes, Dutch, and English in national dress, and 
Indians in blankets and skins — delivered to him a 
handful of soil, the twig of a tree, and a flagon of 
water in sign that all Delaware was his. 

Penn proceeded up the river to a small settlement 
which he called Chester. Here he took possession of 
Pennsylvania and called the settlers together to confer. 

"You shall be governed by laws of your own mak- 
ing," he said, "and live a free, and if you will, a sober 
and industrious people." 

He rowed in a barge to the junction of the Delaware 
and Schuylkill Rivers. Here he founded his capital city, 
which he called Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia 
He named its streets Cedar, Mulberry, Pine, Chestnut, 
and Walnut, from tj^ trees he found growing there. 

' See map. 



136 



Builders of Our Nation 



1682 

La Salle takes 
possession of the 
Mississippi valley 
(April g) 



The treaty with the 
Dela wares 



Only a few months before, La Salle, the Frenchman, 
had taken possession of the valley' of the Mississippi 
and its tributaries, from the peaks of the Rocky 
Mountains to the Alleghany ridge, which included a 
part of the land purchased by Penn; but the great 
Quaker knew nothing of that. He believed the land 
had belonged to the English crown because of the dis- 
coveries of the Cabots. 

Penn made friends with the neighboring Indians. 
Under a spreading elm tree he negotiated a treaty of 
peace, which was kept by the warriors, who remained 
the friends of any man who wore a broad - 
brimmed hat. Long after Penn's death, the 
Delawares would meet under the treaty elm 



ONE OF PENN'S WAMPUM BE 



Penn visits New 
York's governor 



^^^ to spread a blanket or clean pieces of bark, 
and lay down one by one their belts and wampum on 
which, were written the pledges of Penn. 

The new proprietor paid a visit to the Duke of 
York's province on the Hudson where that prince's 
governor was trying to make good Englishmen out of 
the Dutch. The restless French traders on the north 
were giving a great deal of trouble. They were trying 
to persuade the Iroquois to dig up the hatchet they 
had buried under the little Dutch church, and make 
war on the English "usurpers." 

Penn believed in peace. He saw that in union alone 
there could be peace. He said if all the English colonies 
would join in friendly alliance, the French would not 
be so bold. 

The governor 6f New York smiled at the very idea 
of a union between the colonies. Jle said he had been 

' See p. 125. 



William Penn 137 

in America long enough to know all about it. The 
Dutch hated the Puritans of New England ; the Puri- 
tans flogged Quakers away from their towns; the 
Church of England men in Virginia would not harbor 
Catholics: and so how could the Dutch, the Puritans, 
the Quakers, the Catholics, and the Church of England 
men ever agree to a union ? 

Penn returned to Chester, resolved to strengthen 
his own colony as fast as he could. He had divided 
his province into counties and lots and put up the land 
for sale at forty shillings for a hundred acres. Before 
Philadelphia was two years old it numbered two thou- 
sand inhabitants and the province nearly eight thou- 
sand. The Delaware River became a busy mart of 
trade, where ships lay at anchor from other colonies 
along the coast. 

Penn wrote home: "I have led the greatest colony 
into America that any man ever did upon a private 

credit." .„ 

16S5 

Meantime Charles II had died, and the Duke of Death of charies 11 
York came to the throne with the title of James II. jamesii 

"Come and help us," wrote some persecuted 
Quakers from London, who had been thrown into 
prison. Penn, leaving his council to govern in his 
stead, hurried back to England. He was welcomed Penn returns to 
at court. His manners were so gentle and his wit and '°"''° 
learning so great that he influenced the king to set 
more than a thousand Quakers free. 

It was perhaps due to Penn more than to any other 
one man that Parliament a little later passed the great 
Toleration Act. In the Toleration Act the government The Toleration Act 



138 



Builders of Our Nation 



1 763-1 767 

Mason and Dixon's 
line established 



1689 
William and Mary 
ascend throne 

(February 13) 



War between England 
and France 



Pcnn again in prison 



gave up all claim to the right to force subjects to belong 
to the Established Church. 

Penn lingered in London trying to settle a boundary 
dispute with Lord Baltimore. In spite of all he could 
do, the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland 
remained in dispute. 

Many years after Penn's death the line was drawn 
by two surveyors named Mason and Dixon, and *' Mason 
and Dixon's line" became known as the division in 
politics between the states of the South, and the Middle 
and New England states. 

The people of England grew tired of James II, who 
was a tyrant over everybody except his friends. Par- 
liament invited William of Orange and Mary, the 
daughter of James, to rule in his stead. 

James fled to France and Louis XIV went to war 
with England to restore him to his throne. 

Of course when the two fatherlands began fighting, 
their children, the colonies, had a good excuse for 
fighting too. New York and the New England colonies 
rallied men and met the French in Canada. 

The peace-loving Quakers did not join in the fight. 
Comfortable farmhouses took the place of their cabins ; 
orchards blossomed and bore fruit; corn and wheat 
produced not only enough food for the settlers, but a 
little beside to be carried in boats to the towns on the 
coast. 

Penn wished to again visit his colony which had 
become the wonder and talk of all Europe; but troubles 
of his own kept him long in England. 

He was accused of receiving a letter from the exiled 



William Penn 



139 




PENN'S HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA 



James, and was in prison for several months. King 
William claimed that on account of Governor Penn's 
absence his province was in disorder. France was 
threatening all the American ^- -^.i 

colonies. His majesty said 
Pennsylvania should have a 
military defense even if the 
Quakers did not believe in 
fighting. He accordingly ap- 
pointed a governor who tried to 
muster all the able-bodied men 
in the province. But the good 
Quakers refused to shoulder 
muskets and there was the 
worst sort of confusion throughout Pennsylvania. 

Two years later, when Penn sailed back to his 
colony with his wife and one of his daughters, he was 
surprised at the beauty and size of Philadelphia, which 
was now a rival of Boston. 

Penn had two homes, one in the city and the other 
in the country. His country home, Pennsburg Manor, 
cost him thirty-five thousand dollars. It was sur- 
rounded by a great park and was very elegantly fur- 
nished. He entertained freely whoever came — white 
men, Indians, or negroes. It is said that at one of the 
feasts in the vast dining room his visitors ate a hundred 
roasted turkeys. 

Penn did not remain long in America 
from England that on account of an approaching war "^*° 
with France all the colonies in America were to be put 
under governors appointed by the king, and the Penn- 



1699 

Penn returns to his 
province 



Pennsljurg Manor 



1701 
Word came Penn returns to 



I40 



Builders of Our Nation 



1702 

Death of William III 
CMarch S) 

Queen Anne 



1714 
Death of Anne 
(August i) 



1718 
Death of Penn 
(July 30) 



1779 

The state of 
Pennsylvania 
purchases the claim? 
of the Penns 



sylvania assembly urged him to return to court to 
plead for his rights. 

King William died soon after Penn's arrival in 
England, and Queen Anne came to the throne. Anne 
had known the great Quaker all her life. She said he 
should remain governor of Pennsylvania as long as he 
lived, and that his heirs should succeed him. When 
Anne died, George I became king. So that eight 
monarchs sat on the English throne during the life of 
William Penn. Each of these rulers had something 
to do with colonial affairs in America. Do you remem- 
ber who they were ? 

Charles I 
Oliver Cromwell 
Richard Cromwell 
Charles II 
James II 

William and Mary 
Anne I 
George I 

When Penn died in England he was still the honored 
governor of Pennsylvania. Today his name ranks with 
the greatest names in our history. His descendants 
held office until the American colonies formed a united 
government. And then the new state of Pennsylvania 
purchased the claims of the Penns who had ruled for 
nearly a hundred years. 




lyoS 
William Pitt born 
(November is) 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY 



WILLIAM PITT 

THE GREAT COMMONER 

1 708-1 778 

'ILLIAM PITT was born in 
Westminster, which is now a 
part of London but at that 
time was a city in itself. The 
Pitt house stood hardly a stone's 
throw from Westminster Abbey, Westminster Abbey 
where Henry VII, who had sent 
out the Cabots to find America, 
lies buried. Here also, lie Eliz- 
abeth, who knighted Raleigh 
and Drake for services in ^ 
America, and James I, who persecuted the Puritans, 
and Charles I, who lost his head because he had 
tried to deprive Englishmen of their political rights. 
Many commoners without any title at all — war- 
riors, discoverers, statesmen, and poets — have been 
honored with tombs in Westminster Abbey. Sometimes 
William was allowed by the good beadle to wander in 
and out among the tall monuments, and he had to 
tilt high his face — a keen little face with piercing 
eyes and a nose like an eagle's beak — to read the 
names of the dead who had helped to make England 
great. 

England then ranked among the greatest nations 
of Europe. Since the Toleration Act' thousands of The Toreration Act 
persecuted Christians from France, Spain, Holland, 




WILLIAM PITT 

LORD CHATHAM 

1708-1778 



i68g 



I See p. 137. 



141 



142 



Builders of Our Nation 



Pitt hears of the 
Indies 



Eton 

Oxford 
Lincoln's Inn 



173s 
Pitt enters 
Parliament 



Pitt's first speech in 
the House of 
Commons 



and Germany — weavers, artists, printers, ironmasters — 
had migrated to England to ply their trades. 

The colonies in America furnished a fine market 
for wares manufactured in England or carried in 
English ships from the Indies. 

William Pitt's grandfather had once been governor 
of Madras in the East Indies. The lad often sat on 
his grandfather's knee to hear about the dazzling East 
Indies, with its camels and elephants, its ivories, silks, 
and spices. He heard a deal about the West Indies, 
too; for his grandfather had also been governor of 
Jamaica, and knew all about the neighboring islands 
owned by the Spaniards. 

When the boy was old enough he went to Eton to 
school and then to Oxford and to Lincoln's Inn, just 
as William Penn, the Quaker, had done. But the life 
of Penn was spent in bringing peace to men, while it 
seems to have been the mission of Pitt to send war 
toward all the four points of the compass. 

While still in his twenties Pitt entered Parliament. 
The English Houses of Parliament, you know, are the 
House of Lords and the House of Commons. The 
lords, in most cases, inherit their seats. The com- 
moners are elected by the people. The members of 
Parliament are supposed to enact new laws and guard 
old laws from abuse. 

Pitt was elected to the House of Commons. His 
first speech made him famous. Some said it was his 
handsome face with its piercing eyes and its nose like 
the beak of an eagle that attracted so much attention; 
others said it was his voice, so ringing and clear that 



William Pitt 143 

even his whisper reached the farthest corner of the hall ; 
others said it was his display of words and the gestures 
he made with his long arms. 

"'War" was almost the first thing Pitt talked about 
in the House of Commons. 

English ships had shaken their mastheads at Spain's 
orders to keep away from West Indian ports, and 
Spaniards were capturing English seamen and throwing 
them into prison, 

"When trade is at stake," cried Pitt, "you must 
defend it or perish!" 

England declared war against Spain. When King England declares 
George called upon the American colonies for help, TheTo^lnTes^aiTm 
troops from New England and from Virginia, and even •'"' ^p"""'"^ "^'^^ 
from Pennsylvania, sailed to Jamaica to join Admiral 
Vernon's fleet. 

When France joined Spain in the war the American France joins spain 

colonies sent men north with Commodore Warren's 

1745 
fleet, and conquered Louisburg, a stout fort on Cape i^ouisburg captured 

Breton Island,' which the French had been building 

for years. 

Pitt was delighted when he heard of the brave 
Americans. 

"Much of England's glory or ruin depends on our 
colonies," he said. 

He was almost as angry as the Americans themselves, 
■when the king's ministers gave Louisburg back to 
France in exchange for Madras, in India, which the Louisburg exchanged 
French had captured. He knew very well that Louis- ^"' ^^'^ '""^ 
burg must be taken over again. But the King's min- 
isters did not understand that. One of them really 

'See map, p. 147. 



144 



Builders of Our Nation 



French colonies 




understood so little about the geography of America 
that he was quite surprised when he heard that Cape 
Breton was an island. 

"Well, well," said this ignorant minister, "I must 
go tell the king Cape Breton's an island!" 

Pitt very often studied the map of Amer- 
ica. He would begin at Cape Breton, near 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, and 
move his finger up the river to Quebec, the 
capital of New France, and to Montreal, and to 
scores of Jesuit missions along its banks. He 
followed the line of French forts ' to the Missis- 
sippi and on down the "Great Father of Waters" to 
Spanish colonies Ncw Orlcans, the French trading post on the gulf; then 

out into the gulf and along the coast of Spanish Florida 
to Georgia, the youngest colony planted by the Eng- 
. lish, and to South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, 
English colonies Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New 

York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, and to Maine — a wilderness of many bays 
which belonged to Massachusetts. Thirteen colonies 
lay along the sea-coast, all loyal to the English crown. 
The English colonies abounded in corn, cattle, flax, 
iron, and trees fit for ship-building. The inhabitants 
were doubling in number every twenty years. In the 
southern colonies tobacco and rice were cultivated on vast 
plantations; in the northern colonies the people farmed 
the lands, engaged in fisheries, and built every year a 
hundred and fifty vessels to sell in Europe and the 
West Indies. New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia 
were thrifty, busy cities, and all along the sea lay towns 

• See map, p. 123. 



William Pitt 145 

whose harbors were filled with trade ships from Eng- 
land. Truly, as Pitt said, much of England's glory 
depended on her colonies. 

But there on the map, to the north, were the French The owo vaiiey 
ready to seize these profitable colonies; to the south 
were the Spanish allies of the French; and to the 
west the mountains hemmed them in and to the east 
the sea. Pitt knew very well that the French claimed 
the wilderness beyond the mountains — so rich in furs 
and plow-land. But the English claimed it, too. Some 
English trappers had crossed the ridges and built 
their huts as though they intended to stay. 

Presently it was noised about London that King 
George had granted a patent to the "Ohio Company" Th/r''4!i charter to 
for a large tract of land. The land lay in a valley the omo company 
where two rivers formed a fork and plunged into one 
great stream, called by the Indians the "Ohio." 

"If a fort were built at the head of the Ohio," said 
Pitt, "the trade route of the whole valley would be 
easy to guard from the French." 

Word came to the House of Commons that while 
the Ohio Company was building a fort at the head of 
the Ohio, some French and Indians had attacked the 
workmen, driven them off, and built a fort for them- 
selves, which they called "Fort Duquesne."' Almost FonDuquesne 

' •' ^ '■ built by the French 

the next ship into port carried news that a small com- 
pany of Virginia troops had been defeated near Fort 
Duquesne. 

"English blood shed by Frenchmen must be 
avenged," cried the excited members of the House of 
Commons. 

I See map, p. 147. 



146 



* Builders of Our Nation 



1755 

Defeat of General 
Uraddock 



1756 
The French build 
Fort Ticonderoga 



General Edward Braddock was sent across the sea 
with two regiments of redcoats. The lawmakers of 
England waited to hear from the wilderness west of 
the mountains. Presently word came that General 
Braddock had been killed in an engagement with the 
French near Fort Duquesne; more than half of his 
army had fallen, and the whole army of regulars and 
colonists would have been destroyed but for the skill 
of a young American, George Washington, who had 
rallied the flying remnant into an orderly retreat. 
Then word came that the French from Canada had 
sailed down Lake Champlain and built Fort Ticon- 
deroga' at the foot of Lake George, and meant to get 

possession of the Hudson River. That would split 

the colonies in two, and make it easy enough for 

the French to conquer them all. 

More English regulars were hurried to America. 

But more French troops were hurried too, and their 

leader was Marquis de Montcalm, one of the greatest 
MARQUIS DE MONTCALM gcucrals of Europc. 

' ' I dread to hear from America, ' ' said Pitt, when he 
learned that ISIontcalm had sailed up the St. Lawrence. 

Montcalm soon made war-news for the English 
House of Commons. He captured Fort William Henry, 
which New Yorkers had built at the head of Lake 
George. 

Sham.e and grief and rage filled the hearts of the 
people of England. "One man alone," they said, 
"can save our colonies and redeem the national honor." 
"Pitt! Pitt!" they called, at the very door of the royal 
palace. 

' Sec map, p. 147. 




1757 
Fort William Henry 
captured (August 9) 



William Pitt 



147 



1757 



Pitt becomes Prime 

Minister of England 

(December 4) 



Pitt plans a campaign 




King George II was forced to dismiss his favorites King George ii 
from office, and William Pitt became prime minister. 

This time Pitt spread out the map of the whole 
world; for England was also at war with the French 
in the East Indies and the West Indies and in Africa 
and on the high seas. 

He saw clearly enough that his armies 
in America could reach Canada by 
only three routes: up 
the St. Lawrence 
from the ocean, 
down the St. Law- 
rence from the west, 
and down Lake 
Champlain from 
the south. He 

knew that the Indians would choose sides — the 
Hurons and other lake Indians with the French, and 
the Iroquois with the English — and so he learned all 
he could about Indian warfare. 

He realized that the colonists had not been treated 
fairly by the English generals in command, and he 
ordered that they should be promoted in the ranks, 
should act as scouts and fight Indian fashion whenever 
it seemed necessary. 

He despatched twenty-five thousand more English- 
men to America. He removed one officer after another 
untU the right man for the place was found. Swift 
sailboats and sweating postboys carried his orders to 
different camps. Soon twenty-five thousand colonials 
in buckskin and an equal numl^er of redcoats were 
changing the map of America. 



148 



Builders of Our Nation 



1758 

Fort Louisburg 
recaptured (July 26) 

Fort Duquesne 
becomes Fort Pitt 
(November 25) 



1759 

Fort Niagara 
captured (July 25) 

Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point 

General Wolfe 




JAMES WOLFE 
1727-1759 



^759 

Surrender of Quebec 
(September 18) 



An army under General Amherst and Admiral 
Boscawen captured Fort Louisburg; General Forbes 
and Colonel George Washington took Fort Duquesne, 
and changed its name to Fort Pitt. 

• All England saw that the master hand of Pitt would 
win victory from the French. Parliament voted large 
sums of money to carry on the war. More soldiers 
from Scotland,' Ireland,' and England' hurried to 
America, and colonial farmers in homespun left their 
plows to join them. 

Fort Niagara, the key to the Great Lakes, the 
Illinois River, and the Mississippi, was taken. Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point, which protected Canada 
from the south, were seized. 

The gallant young General Wolfe with an army 
of nine thousand men sailed up the St. Lawrence. 
Wolfe watched Quebec, situated on a high 
cliff and guarded for miles with guns. Mont- 
calm and his army were there. Weeks 
passed in an effort to gain the city from 
below. Then Wolfe sailed farther up the 
river. He landed his men above Quebec,^ 
and they scaled the rugged cliffs by night. 
Daybreak revealed them drawn up in line 
on the Field of Abraham, facing Quebec. 

INIontcalm, amazed at the sight, quickly 
rallied his troops. The French and Cana- 
dians poured out of the great west gate of the city 
and formed in battle line. 

The struggle was fierce, but soon over ; and Quebec, 
too, came under the British flag. 

' Sec may, p. 62. 2 See map, p. 144. 



William Pitt 



149 



Pitt, the terror of France, became the military 
wonder of the civilized world. He was called the 
" Great Commoner" by the people, who openly boasted The Great commoner 
on the streets of London that he might add France itself 
to the British crown. 

Pitt had secret information that Spain would join 
France in the war when some treasure-ships from South 
America came safely into port. He urged the king to 
declare war on Spain and seize the treasure on the 
high seas, as Elizabeth had seized King Philip's. 

The king by this time was young George HI, 
George H having died soon after the fall of 
Quebec. As the dead king's grandson was 
hurrying to London, Pitt, very splendid in 
a coach and six, had met the young prince 
and welcomed him as his king. As they 
entered the city, Pitt, riding behind, was 
cheered even more than the king. 

It was soon whispered about that his 
majesty, George lU, was jealous of his 
prime minister's fame and wished to dismiss 
him from office. 

Pitt boldly sent ships to the far-away Philippine Philippine islands 
Lslands' and to the West Indies to strike quickly when 
Spain should make her first move. 

When the king and his favorite. Lord Bute, refused Lord Bute 
to believe that Spain would join France in the war, 
Pitt resigned his office, and Lord Bute became secretary 
of state. 

The Spanish treasure reached port, and Spain (//// 
join France in the war; but the fleets Pitt had sent to 

' See map, between pp. 248-249. 




GEORGE III 
1738- 1820 



1761 
Pitt resigns his office 

1762 
The English capture 
Havana (August 14) 
Manila (October 6) 



I50 



Builders of Our Nation 



1763 

Final treaty of peace 
at Paris 

(February 10) 



A lax on American 
colonies proposed 



Spanish waters captured Havana, the capital of Cuba, 
and Manila in the Philippines. 

It was Lord Bute who arranged the treaty of peace, 
but everybody knew that Pitt had made the wonderful 
treaty possible. 

France lost her possessions in North America, 
except some islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
England gained Canada 
and all French and Spanish 
lands east of the Mississippi 
except New Orleans. Then, 
to repay Spain for the loss 
of Florida, France gave to 
Spain New Orleans and the 
territory between the Mis- 
sissippi River and the Rocky 
Mountains. Lord Bute gave 
Havana and Manila back to 
Spain. Both Englishmen 
and Americans grumbled at 
that. They said if Pitt had 
made the treaty the cities would have been kept and 
would have brought a vast trade. 

The colonists felt that Pitt was the best friend they 
had in England. When the House of Commons dis- 
cussed taxing the Americans to help pay for the long 
war, Pitt said they had already done their share. 
They had lost thousands of men and paid large sums 
of money for a war brought on by a quarrel between 
England and France. 

"Parliament must put a tax on the Americans," 
persisted the king's ministers. 





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in /Imerica ^Ss 
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William Pitt 



151 



(March 22) 



"They have their own parliaments, called Assem- 1765 
blies," said Pitt. "Our Parliament has no right under stlmTAa' ^ 
heaven to lay a tax without their consent." 

One day while Pitt was absent, the House of Com- 
mons passed an act to impose a tax on Americans by 
requiring stamps to be placed on legal and commercial 
papers. All written documents must be executed on 
the stamped paper— marriage certificates, burial certifi- 
cate's, deeds, wills, transfers — everything, to be legal, 
must have the stamp. 

Alarming news reached England even before the 
stamps were delivered. Pitt heard it all. 

"Our fatherland should remember we 
are children and not slaves," wrote someone 
from Penn's land. 

"We will none of us import British goods 
until the act is repealed," wrote the mer- 
chants of Boston, New York, and Philadel- 
phia. 

It was said that some colonies had set up looms to 
weave their own cloth, and that farmers were eating 
no mutton that they might have wool. 

"All the colonies will go into manufacturing," 
warned the governor of Maryland. 

A newspaper from America was handed from bench 
to bench in Parliament. At the head of the newspaper 
was the picture of a snake divided into parts, bearing 
the names of the colonies and the motto : "Join or Die ! " 
It was even said that a congress of the colonies had 
met in New York City. 

Presently a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" 
came to be read in Parliament. The declaration ^'^^'^ 




FRANKLIN'S JOIN OR DIE 



Colonial convention 

in New York meets 

(October 7) 

A Declaration of 



152 



Builders of Our Nation 



John Adams 



1766 
The House of 
Commons summons 
Benjamin FrankUn 

(February 13) 



Pitt speaks against 
the Stamp Act 



maintained that Americans were subjects of the king 
like other EngHshmcn, but it was the natural right of a 
British subject to vote his own tax. 

John Adams of Massachusetts wrote: ''If the great 
men are determined to enforce the acts, they will find 
a more obstinate war than the conquest of Canada." 

"Great Sir," said an American newspaper sent to 
King George, "retreat or you are ruined." 

The king intended to have his own way. "Enforce 
the Stamp Act with the sword!" he cried. 

"France and Spain stand ready to help the colonies," 
warned Pitt. "Even now France is increasing her 
navy." 

Benjamin Franklin, an editor of Philadelphia, who 
had given prominence to the motto "Join or Die", was 
called before the House of Commons. Franklin was so 
fearless in his defense of colonial rights that he made 
a great impression on the lawmakers of England. 

Pitt worked day and night to undo the harm that 
had been done. "Repeal the Stamp Act," he said to 
the stubborn king's ministers. "I repeat, my lords, 
it is not in accord with the English constitution." 

When at last the final vote on the repeal came, the 
galleries and halls of Westminster were crowded with 
trembling and anxious merchants who said their trade 
with America was ruined. 

"Only Pitt can put an end to this anarchy," 
whispered a member of Parliament, as he hurried into 
his seat. 

Presently Pitt hobbled in, swathed in flannel. His 
eagle face was alive with emotion. Some Americans' 

' Benjamin West, the painter, was one of these Americans. See p. 227. 



William Pitt 153 

up in the gallery coold hardly keep from cheering aloud. 

The debate lasted till after midnicfht. Pitt made 
one great speech. Others replied. Pitt spoke again. RepeLofthe 
The Stamp Act was repealed. . ^'''ma'ich is) 

When the doors were opened and Pitt appeared, 
caps were thrown into the early morning air and huzzas 
resounded from the tradesmen, who crowded about 
the great man's chair and escorted him to his door. 

King George, in spite of his jealousy, called Pitt to 
court and gave him the title of the Earl of Chatham. TheSariof 
This title gave the "Great Commoner" a seat in the ^^^'^^"^ 
House of Lords. 

Some of his old friends feared he might become a 
tool for the king and his favorites. But no! Lord 
Chatham continued to lash corruption on every side. 
To the end of his life he felt that the cause of the colo- 
nists was his own. 

When the colonial oppressions increased and America 
rose in arms, ' he plead always for liberty and justice. war breaks out 

The stubborn king would have his own way in '''"'"'"e" ''-"g'^nd 

o -' and the colonies 

American affairs. Because Englishmen were too slow ^'^p"' '9) 

in taking up arms against their kinsmen, his majesty 

hired some Hessian troops to help the English regulars. King George hires 

Chatham again spoke out in the House of Lords. 
"You cannot conquer America!" he said. "If I were 
an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign 
troop was landed in my country, I would never lay 
down my arms. Never, never, never!" 

News reached England that the Americans had 
met in convention and had signed a Declaration of 
Independence. Benjamin Franklin, who was still 

' See p. 166, 



the Hessians 



154 



Builders 0} Our Nation 



1777 

r.urgoyne's surrender 
(October 17) 



I-ord North 



France recognizes 
the independence 
of the American 
colonies 



I-ord Chatham's last 
speech in Parliament 



1778 
Death of Chatham 
- (May II) 



working in London for the cause of the colonies, 
openly rejoiced at the courage of his countrymen. 

King George and his ministers sent army after army 
across the sea to conquer the colonies. Report came 
at last that General Burgoyne had surrendered to the 
Americans at Saratoga, with his whole force of six 
thousand men, among them six members of Parliament. 
Lord North, the prime minister, wept at the news, it 
is said; and his majesty "fell into agonies." But still 
King George would not make terms. 

''Do justice to America," cried Chatham, in the 
House of Lords. "Do justice tonight. Do it ere you 
sleep! " 

Then news came that France, encouraged by the 
surrender of Saratoga, had acknowledged the independ- 
ence of the colonies and would furnish ships and men 
to aid them. 

The blow had fallen at last. 

Chatham, with the pallor of death upon his brow, 
appeared in Parliament for the last time. 

He was enraged that France, his old enemy, should 
humble the proud name of the England he had done 
so much to exalt. 

He urged defiance to France on the one hand and 
firm hold on the colonies on the other. Later he rose 
again as if to speak. He pressed his hand to his 
breast, and fell. 

When the great man died, the House of Commons 
asked for a public funeral, and voted a large sum of 
money for his monument in Westminster Abbey, where 
kings and the other makers of England lay. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON 

THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY 

1732-1799 

EORGE WASHINGTON was born 
on February 22, 1732, in Westmore- 
land County, Virginia. His father 
was a rich planter who died when 
the boy was eleven years old. Law- 



1732 

Birth of George 
Washington 

(February 22) 



rence Washijigton, 



George's 



elder 



brother, inherited the plantation on the Po- 
tomac River, which he called "Mount Vernon" Mount vemon 
in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had 
once fought the Spaniards.' 

Lord Fairfax lived near Mount Vernon. He was a Lord Fairfax 
courtly old gentleman who had left England 
a few years before to cultivate his vast es- 
tate in Virginia. Before George had entered 
his teens, his lordship became his very firm 
friend. The two tramped together for days 
to visit plantations, or survey thick-set forests, 
or deer-stalk along the river. 

When his lordship found George was ac- 
curate in his measurement of land, he sent him 
into the Shenandoah Valley, beyond the Blue 
Ridge Mountains, to survey an immense tract he ,.. 7"^^ 

•^ ' •> \\ ashington surveying 

owned. The lad was barely sixteen years old, but in the shcnandoah 
he boldly followed the Indian trails, crossed unknown 
streams, climlDed unknown mountains, and passed 
through forests filled with wild beasts. 




YOUNG GEORGE WASHINGTON 



Valley 



» See p. 143. 



155 



156 



Builders of Our Nation 



Public surveyor 




ip^ 




i^i^- 



1753 

Washington visits 
I'rench forts 
(Xovember) 



1754 
Return to 
Williamsburg 

(January 16) 



The adventure taught him the habits of the Indians 
and the craft of the woods which served him so well 
in later years. 

Lord Fairfax was pleased with George's report. 
He secured him the positions of public surveyor, and 
major in the Virginia militia. 

When Lawrence Washington died, 
George became the owner of Mount Ver- 
non and one of the 
richest young men 
in the South. 
'^.z^ There was much 
talk in Virginia 
about the Ohio Company, 
which had a charter from 
George II for lands along 
MOUNT VERNON ~ thc Ohio Rivcr. The com- 

pany agreed to settle a hundred families on this land 
within seven years. 

Trappers from the Ohio reported tliat the French 
were building forts south of Lake Erie, and would soon 
hold the whole valley. 

Governor Dinwiddle straightway sent George Wash- 
ington, then only twenty-one, to find out what the 
French plans were. Washington made a journey of a 
thousand miles through pathless forests, in winter time. 
He had narrow escapes, but after an absence of nearly 
three months, he returned to Williams1)urg, where the 
governor lived. 

"The only way to keep the French out," he said, 
"is to build forts and fill them with soldiers." Some 






George Washington 



157 



men were accordingly sent to build a fort at the junction 
of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers — the key to 
the Ohio valley. 

Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 
soon followed the workmen with two companies of the 
militia. He learned on the way that the French had 
come clown the Allegheny River, driven 
off the Virginians and were building 
Fort Duquesne. 

Washington fired the first shot at a 
squad of French soldiers. It was after- 
ward said that his shot was heard 
around the world ; for it began the war 
between England and France. 

Washington was defeated by the 




1754 

Defeat of Washington 

French near Fort Duquesne; but he near Fon Duquesne 
made such a gallant stand that the 
burgesses of Virginia gave him a vote 
of thanks. 

On General 

Edward Braddock came from Braddock-s staff 



England 



with his regulars to 



F/ m^dJ^^ take a hand in the fight for the 
Ohio valley. The British gen- 
eral appointed Washington on his staff, because he knew 
the road to the western fort; but he was too proud to 
listen to any American's advice. 

Washington, cjuite fine in his uniform, rode at his 
general's side. He tried to explain the Indian way of 
fighting. He said the French had red allies and would 
probably strike from ambush. 

General Braddock did hot heed a word that Wash- 



158 



Builders of Our Nation 



1755 

Braddock's defeat 
(July 9) 



1758 
Fort Duquesne 
becomes Fort Pitt 

(November 25) 

1759 
Washington marries 
Martha Custis 

(January 6) 



The House of 
Burgesses 



ington said. His men must march to music, which rang 
out for miles, and his flags must fly open if the thickets 
did tear them to shreds. 

The regulars in red coats, and the \"irginians in 
homespun, marched together through forests and swift 
mountain streams. But they eyed each other with 
distrust. 

About seven miles from Fort Duquesne, the French 
and some Indian allies fired from an ambush. The 
English, in solid files, were shot down by hundreds. 
Braddock was killed with three-fourths of his ofljcers, 
and only the courage of Washington saved the fleeing 
remnants of the army from destruction. 

Later, in the French war, which raged for seven 
years, Washington led a Virginia regiment against 
Fort Duquesne. With him went General Forbes and 
his regulars. The French were driven away and the 
name of the fort was changed to Fort Pitt. 

The hero of Fort Pitt resigned his commission in 
the Virginia regiment. He married Martha Custis, a 
young widow of wealth, and became a member of the 
House of Burgesses. 

At the very time that William Pitt' was pleading in 
the House of Commons for the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
George Washington was a member of the House of 
Burgesses in Virginia. 

The people of Virginia elected the burgesses, who 
met every year at Williamsburg to help the governor 
and his council make laws. Sometimes the king of 
England made laws for his colonies without asking 
their consent, and that did not please the Americans. 

'See p. 153. 



George Washington 



159 



It was said that Virginia was the most loyal province 
in all the colonies. But when young George III came 
to the throne, the Virginians had scarce stopped tossing 
their three-cornered hats before they saw he was deter- 
mined to rule them as no king had ever yet tried to do. 

The French war was over,' but it had cost the 
people of England a great deal of money. The king 
saw the colonies growing richer and richer. Ships 
came into port laden with furs, rice, tobacco, lumber, 
tar, and wheat. Even cotton, which it cost so much 
to bring from India, was beginning to be profitable 
in some of the colonies. 

"The Americans shall be taxed to help pay for 
the conquest of Canada," said King George. So Par- 
liament discussed the Stamp Act." 

Now the Americans were willing to help bear 
England's burdens, though they thought they had done 
their share in both money and men. They said they 
were willing to pay taxes if they might vote, like the 
freemen of England ; but if this tax were levied many 
others might be, and the people would soon become 
slaves. 

Almost all the colonies sent petitions to England 
against the Stamp Act. Virginia, too, sent a petition. 
But King George paid no heed to any. The Stamp 
Act was passed. Some of the paper came up the 
Potomac. What would the burgesses of Virginia do 
now? 

On a fine day in May the people of Williamsburg 
assembled in front of the capitol where the burgesses 
met once a year. They watched their lawmakers go 

» See pp. 145-150- * See pp. 150-15 i. 



1760 
George III ascends 
the throne of 
England 

(October 25) 



The Stamp Act 
proposed 




1765 
Stamp Act passed 
(March 22) 



i6o 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Peyton Randolph 
Richard Henry Lee 
Edmund Pendleton 



Washington in the 
House of Burgesses 



1765 
Patrick Henry 
introduces resolutions 
against the Stamp Act 

(May 30) 



up the broad portico — the dignified Peyton Randolph, 
the eloquent Richard Henry Lee, the astute lawyer 
Edmund Pendleton, the popular planter Benjamin 
Harrison — one after the other, alone or in groups, the 
"Honorables" ascended the steps. 

Some wore powdered wigs, and some their own 
hair tied in a queue, from which they kept dofFmg their 
hats. 

No one of them all brought forth such nudgings and 
nods as a tall young man who walked by the side of 
Lord Fairfax. 

"That's the colonel!" whispered the loiterers. 
"That's Washington of Mount Vernon who saved 
Braddock's men!" 

Fairfax did not enter the House of Burgesses. He 
stood at the door in earnest speech, and then slowly 
and with a troubled look set off down the street. 

Washington entered Assembly Hall. He took his 
seat before the speaker's desk. About him sat rich 
planters like himself, and lawyers, and some of the 
clergy. All were old friends, except a lank young 
member in homespun, newly come from a distant 
borough. 

The session began in the midst of a buzz of excite- 
ment. What should be done about the stamps? 
Some said wait and see what the other colonies would 
do. Others said, that since the act was now a law, 
it would have to be obeyed. 

The stranger in homespun arose. "Air. Patrick 
Henry of Hanover," called out the s])eaker. 

The young man held a paper in his hand. He read 
off some resolutions in a thrilling: voice. 



George Washington i6i 

These resolutions declared that an unjust law should 
be opposed; that the Virginians had a charter from 
the king granting to them the rights of English subjects; 
that English subjects had the right to tax themselves, 
and that whoever claimed that Parliament could tax 
the Virginians without their consent was an enemy to 
the colony. 

Some of the burgesses grew pale and fairly trembled 
as they listened; but George Washington nodded his 
head. 

In the fierce debate that followed, the new member 
arose again, ablaze with wrath. He closed his speech: 
"Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Crom- 
well, and George the Third — " "Treason! Treason!" 
shouted many; but Washington was not among them. 

The orator waited. He looked about at the pallid 
faces. "George the Third," he repeated, "may profit 
by their example. // this be treason, make the most 
of it.'' 

Most of Patrick Henry's resolutions were passed in 
spite of the uproar. Among those who voted in favor 
was Colonel Washington. But he said not a word 
during all the debate. He was a man of deeds, not 
words. * 

The Virginia resolutions were published in New The Virginia 
England and scattered through all the colonies. resolutions 

Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and other 
agents from America, labored in England for the repeal 
of the Stamp Act; William Pitt used all his eloquence 
against the odious measure. 1766 

r^, . . Repeal of the Stamp 

1 he act was repealed. Act (March is) 



l62 



Builders of Our Nation 



Washington the 
planter 




WASHINGTON'S COACH AND FOUR 



1773 
A duty on tea is laid 
by Parliament 

(May 10) 



Lord Fairfax said he had known all along that the 
king would be just to his colonies. 

For a time there was peace in Virginia, as well as in 
all America. 

Washington lived in quiet ease at Mount Vernon. 
He kept open house, with a brave show of plate and 
china and modish silks and bro- 
cades. Slaves worked in his fields. 
Vessels lay at his wharves, loading 
up with tobacco and cotton for 
export, or unloading all sorts of 
merchandise shipped straight from 
England. 

The broad veranda overlooking 
the river was a favorite resort of 
the rich planters. They came to talk about the tobacco 
crop, and the cotton experiments, and fox hunting, deer 
stalking, and cock fighting. "Yankee" peddlers from 
New York, Boston, and Philadelphia brought the latest 
gossip from along the coast ; and once in two weeks the 
mail from the North came lazily up the Potomac. 

King George was not satisfied to allow the colonies 
to have their own way. 

Parliament levied a port duty on tea. 
Now taxed tea seemed as bad as taxed paper. And 
the money to be collected from the taxes was largely 
to pay the expense of keeping a small English army 
in America. 

"Why," asked the colonies, "do we now need an 
English army ? The French have gone, the Spaniards 
are farther away, and besides, we can muster brave 
men of our own." 



George Washington 163 

They were convinced that the redcoats were coming 
to compel them to do as the king and his ParHament 
willed. 

The tea was brought to the ports in the ships of the 
East India Company, and everybody remembered how The East india 
blood and money had once been spent on Louisburg ""p"""^ 
only to have the fortress exchanged for Madras just 
to please this East India Company/ 

Tea was denounced by many as a "pernicious weed," 
and dried leaves from the forest were brewed in its 
stead. 

But some of the colonists said that since the tea tax 
was a law, it was best to obey it. 

And so the people were divided into two parties. 
Those who were willing to obey the unjust law were 
called Tories, and those who refused to obey it were Tories and whigs 
called Whigs. 

One of the fiercest of Tories was old Lord Fairfax. 
George Washington, whom he loved like his own son, 
caused his lordship many a sleepless night. 

When Governor Dunmore dissolved the assembly Governor Dunmore 
for its boldness of speech, and the burgesses met imme- AssembiVcMay 25) 
diately after in another hall, it was George Washington 
who presented a resolution to import no more mer- 
chandise that was taxed by the English Parliament. 

Presently news came up the Potomac that the tea 
ships had arrived in port. They lay at anchor in the 
harbors of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and 
Charleston; but the people would not allow the tea 
to be landed in spite of all that the royal governors 
could do. 

I See p. 143. 



164 



Builders of Our Nation 



1773 

The Boston Tea 
Party (December 16) 



1774 
Parliament orders 
Port of Boston closed 

(March 7) 
Port closed (June i) 



The Quebec Bill 



1774 
The First Continental 
Congress assembles 
at Philadelphia 

(September s) 



Then a swift-sailing packet brought news of a "Tea 
Party" in Boston. The people of Boston had emptied 
three hundred and forty-two great chests of tea into 
the bay. 

What would King George and his Parliament do 
now? 

Washington thought that the people of Boston had 
been hasty in destroying the property of the East India 
Company; yet he knew the fierce hate of oppression 
that prompted the deed. 

But what would the king and his Parliament do ? 
No sound from the mother country escaped his quick 
ear. 

Word about the punishment for the Tea Party came 
very soon. Parliament had closed the port of Boston 
and passed the Quartering Bill, which made legal the 
quartering of troops at private houses. Virginia then, 
as well as the rest, might expect to have her plantations 
invaded by haughty British grenadiers. 

Parliament had also passed the Quebec Bill, which 
annexed the land north of the Ohio to Quebec. Vir- 
ginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut claimed this 
land under their charters. Most of the colonies had 
shared the expense of winning it from the French. 

The hero of Fort Pitt could not restrain his rage 
when he heard of the new regulations. '"Join or die' 
is a good motto," he said. "Join or die" had by this 
time become the watchword of all the colonies. Letters 
were exchanged between them, and a congress was 
called to meet in Philadelphia. 

George Washington, whom people remembered now 



George Washington 165 

as the hero of the French war, Patrick Henry the orator, 
Richard Henry I.ee, who had made a bonfire of stamps, 
Edmund Pendleton the lawyer, and other prominent 
Whigs were elected delegates from Virginia. 

Washington, Pendleton, and Henry rode together 
through dense forests and sparse settlements to the 
City of Brotherly Love. They reached Carpenters' carpenters' Haii 
Hall just in time for the meeting. 

Washington looked with interest upon men about 
whom he had heard. There was Samuel Adams of samuei Adams 
Massachusetts, the leader of the Boston Tea Party, 
and the Rutledges from South Carolina — John, and TheRmiedges 
Edward his brother, who had just returned from Lon- 
don with fine manners learned at court. But Edward 
Rutledge was a patriot. He said Benjamin Franklin 
was still working in London for the repeal of the tea tax. 
William Livingston from New Jersey was in the con- wiiiiam Livingston 
gress, and John Jay from New York, and many other 
men whose names were known throughout the colonies. 

We may be sure that the members of the first Con- 
tinental Congress looked with interest at the hero of 
Braddock's campaign. 

Not a few who noted his quiet, soldierly bearing 
must have thought that in case of war the Virginian 
would be the foremost man of them all. 

But the first Continental Congress did not talk about 
war above whispers. Many thought that Massa- 
chusetts had been too bold in resisting the king. At 
the beginning of the meeting there were such dift'erent 
views about everything that a union seemed almost 
impossible, 



1 66 



Builders of Our Nation 



John Jay 




SAMUEL ADAMS 
1722-1803 



Declaration of 
Rights 



1774 
General Gage 
forlil'ies Roston Neck 

(September 5) 

1775 
Second Continental 
Congress 

1775 
Concord and 
Lexington (April u;) 



John Jay oppose(i the motion to open the session 
with prayer. He said no one could expect Baptists, 
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Quak- 
ers, and Catholics to unite in worship. 

But Samuel Adams, from "stiff-necked" Massa- 
chusetts, arose and said he was "no bigot, and could 
hear a prayer from any patriot." If a rigid Puritan 
could yield his creed, all were willing to do so. 

Patrick Henry, in the first great speech of the 
congress, exclaimed: "British oppression has effaced 
the boundaries of the several colonies; the distinc- 
tions between Virsjinians, Pennsvlvanians, New 
Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more . . . '. I 
am not a Virginian, but an American!" 
Thus joined together in good feeling, the delegates 
drew up a Declaration of Rights, in which they demanded 
to be treated as English subjects, 
and not as slaves. 

Parliament paid no heed to 
the "Declaration of Rights." 
King George sent word to all the 
colonial governors to prepare for 
war. 

General Gage fortified Boston 
Neck, and when the second Conti- 
nental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, a battle 
had taken place at Concord and Lexington. 

One of the delegates, fresh from the field, was John 
Hancock of Boston, who said three hundred redcoats 
had been killed in the fight. 

Another of the delegates was Benjamin Franklin of 
Pennsylvania, who had just come from London and 




PATRICK HENRY 



George Washington 



167 



The Hessians 



A federal union 



knew all about the king and his Parliament. Franklin 
said Englishmen were unwilling to enlist against their 
kinsmen. It was rumored that the king would hire 
some troops of the Duke of Hesse. 

"Lord Chatham keeps warning the king against 
France," said Franklin. 

"And the Frenchmen might prove as good help for 
us as the Hessians for George and his Parliament," 
called out someone, quite loudly enough to be heard. 

The congress kept busy for days. A federal union 
was formed which might have the power 
to make treaties of peace or alliance; de- 
clare war, and regulate trade. 

The patriot troops before Boston were 
organized as the Continental army, and 
the delegates pledged to send more men 
in homespun and buckskin into its ranks. 

Who should command this new Conti- 
nental army? 

Who, indeed, but the hero of Fort Pitt ? 

The new commander-in-chief thanked the delegates Washington chosen 
for his election. "I do not think myself equal to the ofThTcominerl-.r 
command I am honored with," he said. armycjunei;) 

He knew very well that he was risking his own head. 
If the troops he called together wTre defeated, he would 
be the first to be tried and beheaded for treason. 

General Washington set out for Boston on horse- 
back, accompanied by a few men. On their way a 
sweating post-boy met them. 

"Another battle— at Bunker Hill!" he cried, as he TheMItL of Bunker 
reined in his mount: "'" ^J"°'= '7) 




1775 



i68 



Builders of Our Nation 



Washington reaches 
Cambridge (July 2) 

1775 
Ethan Allen captures 
Ticonrlcroga 

(May 10) 

1776 
The British leave 
Boston (March 17) 



'* Did we stand the fire of the regulars ? " Washington 
eagerly asked. 

"Aye, sir," was the proud reply. 
"Then the liberties of the country are safe," said 
Washington, and he hastened on toward Boston. 

Washington drilled his men at Cambridge as best 
he could until cannon and supplies might come. 

Ticonderoga had been captured by Ethan Allen 
and his "Green Mountain Boys" of Vermont. When 
the cannon from Ticonderoga came to Cambridge, 
General Gage and his army were driven out of Boston. 
Washington then went to New York to prevent the 
English from getting control of the Hudson and thus 
cutting the united colonics in two. 

Meantime the Continental Congress kept in session 
in Philadelphia. 

Thomas Jefferson from Virginia, John Adams 
from Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin from 
Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman from Connecticut, 
and Robert R. Livingston from New 
York were appointed a committee to pre- 
pare a Declaration of Inde- 
^. pendence. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote 

the Declaration. On the 

fourth day of July, 1776, 

John Hancock of Massachu- 

THE setts, president of the con- 

STATE. HOUSE, . , , . . , 

OR INDEPENDENCE grcss, signcd his uamc m large 

■..,.,.' HALL, PHILADELPHIA ^^^^^^^^ u g^ ^^^ J^J^g ^f ^^„_ 

land could read it without his spectacles." 




George Washington 169 

The Declaration of Independence would be called 
high treason. All who signed it knew that. 

"We must hang together," said Hancock, who saw 
that some were feeling a little weak about what they 
were doing. 

"Yes," said Benjamin Franklin, who knew King 
George so well, "yes, we must hang together or we shall 
hang separately ! " 

A signal was given. And then the bell at the state- 
house rang out. It sounded loudly enough through 
the walls of Independence Hall. But to the people 
in the open, it sounded louder still. 

Some wept in sheer fear of what might happen when 
the king sent troops outnumbering theirs two to one. 
Others cheered in wild joy, and more bells rang, and 
little heaps of powder sizzled and sputtered in the streets. 

When Washington received a copy of the Declaration The Declaration read 
of Independence, he ordered it read at the head of each '° tJe^Amencan Army 
division of his troops. 

Washington's army was divided between New York 
City and Brooklyn Heights. 

General Howe encamped on Staten Island, waiting 
for Admiral Lord Howe with his fleet. When Admiral 
Howe sailed up the bay he sent a despatch to "George 
Washington, Esquire.'' Washington refused to receive 
the message. Howe then wrote to "George Washing- 
ton, e/{:.,e/c.,e/r." "Theand-so-forth," said the admiral, 
"may mean as big a title as this upstart American likes." 

But Washington would not degrade his office by 
receiving the letter. 

General Howe, with Admiral Howe's fleet and an 



170 



Builders 0} Our Nation 



1776 

New York City 
surrenders to General 
Howe (September 14) 



Washington in New 
Jersey 



Washington captures 
the Hessians at 
Trenton 

(December 26) 



army of thirty thousand British and Hessians, captured 
New York City. 

Washington, leaving a division to guard the upper 
Hudson, retreated to New Jersey. Lord CornwalHs 
pursued. Washington retreated across New Jersey 

^=— T — I toward Philadelphia. 
' ' Sometimes the rear 

of his army was in 
full view of the Brit- 
ish van. He reached 
the Delaware with 
about three thousand 
men, secured all the 
boats for miles, and 
crossed the river. 
It is said that General 
Cornwallis was so sure that 
the war was near its close that he 
packed up some of his equipments to 
return to England at an early day. 

Washington had not the least 

thought of surrender; but he knew that 

strategy must make up for strength. 

Cornwallis carelessly scattered his army in divisions 

on the east side of the Delaware. Washington kept his 

men together on the west side. 

On Christmas night Washington crossed the half- 
frozen river. Boat after boat struggled with ice and 
the swift-flowing current. The Americans drew up in 
line on the opposite shore and marched to Trenton, 
nine miles away. They captured a division of Hessians 
who were stupidly sleeping off their Christmas drinks. 




George Washington 



171 



During the month of January, Washington went into 
winter quarters at Morristown. 

All Europe was watching the struggle of proud Eng- 
land with her colonies. You may be sure France and 
Spain were never weary of watching the fray. 

When Benjamin Franklin was sent by Congress to 
France to urge King Louis XVI to acknowledge the 
independence of the colonies, he was well received at 
court. 

But King Louis was not at all sure that the thirteen 
little states could hold together, even if he should call 
them a nation and help them with money and men. 
He said he would wait and see what would happen. 

The young Frenchman, INIarquis de Lafayette, 
could not wait for his king's permission. He fitted 
out a ship at his own expense and sped away with 
some friends to America. 

General Howe sailed down from Staten Island to 
Chesapeake Bay to capture Philadelphia. Washington 
met Howe at the Brandywine River, but was badly 
defeated. 

Howe occupied Philadelphia, and Washington went 
again into winter quarters at Valley Forge, twenty miles 
away. His troops were half-starved and half -clad, and 
the weather was very severe. 

Young Marquis de Lafayette kept hoping that 
something would happen to induce his king to send 
over money and men. Washington waited for news 
from the north, where the British were fighting to con- 
trol the Hudson. 

At last the news came. And what news it was ! The 



1777 

Washington goes into 
winter quarters at 
Morristown 
(January) 



Benjamin Franklin 
at the French court 




THE MARQUIS 

DE LAFAYETTE 

1757-1834 

1777 
The battle of the 
Brandywine 

(September 11) 

1777-1778 
Valley Forge 



172 



Builders of Our Nation 



1777 

lUirgoync's suncndcr 
at Saratoga 
(October 17) 



The Quakers 



The French ships 
arrive 

Captain John Paul 
Jones 



British General Burgoyne had surrendered his army to 
General Gates at Fort Saratoga. Six thousand men, 
with vast supplies, had laid down their arms. Among 
them were several members of Parliament. 

The news of the British defeat at Saratoga traveled 
to far-away France. Benjamin Franklin needed few 
words then to persuade the French king to give aid. 

Money and ships were soon on the way; but Wash- 
ington had no means of knowing that. Without steam- 
ships or cables, it took a long time for news to come 
over the sea. 

The patriots at Valley Forge were in rags. The 
snow was reddened with the blood from their feet as 
they walked. Sometimes for days together they were 
without a morsel of bread in the camp. 

Few of the Quakers of Penn's land took an active 
part in the war. Their religion forbade it. Yet the 
most of these good people supported the patriot cause. 

One Quaker farmer carried provisions to the camp. 
He returned home in high spirits and said to his wife": 
"George Washington will succeed!" 

"What makes thee think so, Isaac?" asked she. 

"I have heard him pray, Hannah, out in the woods. 
The tears fell fast down his cheeks. The Lord will 
hear his prayer, Hannah. Thee may rest assured He 
will!" 

Spring came. The opposing armies moved again. 

French ships sailed into American ports. Some 
English ships entered, too. But John Paul Jones, a 
young patriot seaman, with a squadron of five ships, 
darted into the Irish Channel as boldly as did Sir Francis 



George Washington 



173 



Drake into the harbor of Lisbon.' He set fire to ship- 
ping and sunk so many vessels that a part of the royal 
navy was kept at home defending the British coast. 

Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, sent George George Rogers 
Rogers Clark to the West with some troops. Clark country north of the 

He 



1778 



seized O^io from the 
British 



1780 



floated down the Ohio from Pittsburg. 
Kaskaskia/ Vincennes and the other British posts 
north of the river, except Detroit. If Clark's expedition 
had not succeeded, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Michigan, and a part of Minnesota might even now be 
a part of Canada. 

Meantime, the backwoodsmen from beyond the Blue 
Ridge, in coonskin caps and buckskins, routed the red- 
coats and Tories at King's Mountain, South Carolina.^ Amer'kan victory at 
With weapons of all shapes and sizes they kept smiting '"foctobe""?)"" 
the foe right and left. 

And so the struggle went on until one proud day 
Washington gathered almost his 
entire army around Yorktown, 
Virginia. General Corn wallis lay 
there entrenched with an army 
of eight thousand men. 

A French fleet cut off the 
^ British from escape by the sea. 
Washington's patriots and his 
French allies hemmed in the British by land. „ 

Cornwallis laid down his arms. Many Tories of surrender of 
Virginia fled to Canada. Lord Fairfax, now very old (October ig) 
and worn, wept when he heard of the British surrender, 
and died shortly after — some said of a broken heart. 

the 




When the news of defeat reached England, 

'See p. 24. ' See map, p. 123. 3 See map, p. 180. 



174 



Builders of Our Nation 



1783 

The treaty of peace 
signed at Paris 
(September 3) 



House of Commons refused to vote money to continue 
the war with their kinsmen, and King George was forced 
to ask for peace. 

John Adams of JNIassachusetts, John Jay of New 
York, and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, met the 
British commissioners at Paris and concluded a treaty. 




THE UNITED STATES 
BT TREATY OF 1763 



(I) CLAIMED BY VA..MASS.. CONN., AND NY. 



England recognized the independence of the United 
States ; she ceded the Floridas to Spain and the rest of 
her land east of the Mississippi to the United States. 
Only Canada and Nova Scotia remained of all she had 
boasted as hers. 

Thousands of American Tories, ashamed and afraid 
to dwell in the new republic, emigrated beyond the St. 
Lawrence. 

The American army disbanded. The British fleet 
sailed away. 

Washington bade farewell in New York to the offi- 



George Washington 175 

cers of his army, and hastened home to Mount Vernon Washington returns 



to Mt. Vernon 



which he had visited only once in eight long years 

It seemed as if the great Virginian's work was done; 

but work still remained. He had been first in war, 

and now he was to be first in peace. 

1787 
The Continental Congress called the states together constitutional 

for the purpose of forming a more perfect union. The phUIdei' hia^'cMa 

convention was to meet at Philadelphia, with closed 

doors, until a constitution should be written. 

All the states, except Rhode Island, were represented 
in the Constitutional Convention. 

George Washington was there, and was elected George Washington 
president of the convention. Benjamin Franklin was elected president of 

•' the convention 

there, and Alexander Hamilton and 
Roger Sherman and James Madison 
and many other strong, able men; 
but there were almost as many 
different opinions about what 
the new union should be as 
there were men. 

Tames Madison drew up a rpm,am,I pdaI,^, ,m t ^, a- 

-' tr BENJAMIN FRANKLIN James Madison 

sketch for a constitution, which 1706-1790 draws up a 

. constitution 

was adopted after many changes and much debate. 

The Constitution of the United States provided for The president 
a president and a vice-president, to be elected every four ^^"^ ingress 

•^ The supreme court 

years, a congress,' and a supreme court. 

No one had ever known a government like that 
before ; some said the states would never adopt it. 

Washington, as president, was the first member to The\£ngofthe 
sign his name. He held the pen in his hand. "Should institution 

(September 17) 

I Congress is the law-making body. It has a Senate elected by the legis- 
latures of the states and a House of Representatives elected by the people. 




176 



Builders of Our Nation 



The states ratify the 
constitution 



George Washington 
elected president of 
the United States 



1789 
WashinRton's 
inauguration 

(April 30) 




the states reject this excellent constitution," he said, 
"the probability is that an opportunity will never again 
offer to cancel another in peace. The next will be 
drawn in blood." 

After all had signed the document, it was submitted 
by the Continental Congress to the states. There was 
a great deal of talking ; but in the end 
the states ratified the constitution and 
elected a new Congress whose first task 
would be to count the votes for a presi- 
dent and a vice-president. 

Everybody said that George Wash- 
ington, who had saved the Union, would 
be president, and Thomas Jefferson, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON ^ _ J ' 

1732-1799 who had written the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, Would be vice-president. And that is just 
what happened. 

Washington was inaugurated at 
New York, the first capital of the 
new republic. He was dressed in a 
brown suit of American manufac- 
ture, white silk stockings, and shoes 
with silver buckles; his hair was 
powdered and tied in a silk bag, 
and a sword hung at his side. 

He stood on the balcony of Fed- 
eral Hall, high above a vast crowd 
of people, who cheered while he 
bowed again and again. When he 
had taken the oath, the people 
tossed their cocked hats and fluttered their scarfs and 




THE WASHINGTON 
MONUMENT 



George Washington ■ 177 

kerchiefs, and cheered for George Washington, presi- 
dent of the United States. 

Four years later, Washington was inaugurated for a second term 
a second term; but when he was asked to stand for 
election a third term, he firmly refused the honor. 

In his farewell address he urged the states to keep Washington's farewdi 
peace with one another, and to obey the laws they them- "^'^"" (September) 
selves had made. 

When he returned to Mount Vernon he bore with 
him the love and respect of the whole young nation he 
had done so much to create and maintain. 

Two years later he died and was buried at Mount Death of Washington 
Vernon. At the modest tomb, on the banks of the ^'''"'"'"^'' '^^ 
Potomac, some of the greatest men of the world have 
paid reverence to the memory of George Washington — 
"first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his 
countrymen!" 



1767 

Birth of Andrew 
Jackson in North 
Carolina (March 15) 



The Jacksons remove 
to South Carolina 



ANDREW JACKSON 

THE UPHOLDER OF THE UNION 

1 767-1845 




HEN Andrew Jackson was born, 
the Ensjlish Parliament had 
already laid a tax on tea im- 
ported into the American 
colonies. The Jacksons were 
Scotch-Irish. They had been 
in America only two years and lived on a little clear- 
ing in the pine woods of North Carolina. 

Mr. Jackson died before Andrew was born, and as 
soon as the baby was old enough, Mrs. Jackson crossed 
into South Carolina to live with her 
brother. 

Little "Andy" grew to be a freckle 
faced, red-haired lad, with bright 
blue eyes and a tall, slim frame. His 
mother spun flax to earn money 
enough to send him to school. 

Andy did not study very well at 
school, but he showed no end of pluck 
in play. "He's so little, we can throw him three 
times out of four," said his mates, "but he'll never 
stay thro wed." 

He climbed to the very tips of the pine trees; he 
dug into the sandy black soil to see what wriggling 
creatures were there; sometimes he trudged with tired 
but eager feet along the emigrant trail toward the west. 

178 




ANDREW JACKSON 
1767- 1845 



Andrew Jackson 



179 




He loved to meet the trappers who had climbed the Trappers from the 

west 

mountains from the west. They had wild game slung 
across their shoulders, and from their belts dangled 
dried skins which they were going to exchange for things 
they could not find in the wilderness — pepper and sugar 
and coffee. Andy was sure they were not going to 
buy tea. 

The gruff old blacksmith in the shop near his 
uncle's house had told him all about tea. It was made 
from dried leaves brought from India by the English 
East India Company. It went first in great boxes to 
England and then was shipped to America to be brewed 
for a drink. 

Formerly the trappers from beyond the mountains 
had bought a little bag of tea whenever they came 
to town; but now they wouldn't touch it. 

Nobody but Tories drank tea. That was because 
King George had laid a tax on tea in order to collect 
money unjustly from the Americans. 

The old blacksmith said that if you were not a Tory 
you were a Whig. And so Andy was a Whig. 

One day he followed wagons and horsemen and a 
crowd of people on foot to the courthouse. He heard 
talk about a Declaration of Independence. Andy was 
only nine years old. He didn't understand just what 
a Declaration of Independence was, but when he saw 
how W^higs rejoiced and Tories scowled, he was sure 
it was a good thing, and so he threw up his cap of coon- 
skin and shouted with all his might. 

Word came that war was raging in the north. Then 
word came that the British were coming south, and 



Tories and Whigs 



1776 
The Declaration of 
Independence signed 

(July .,) 



i8o 



Builders oj Our Nation 



1778 

Savannah, Georgia, 
surrenders to the 
British 

(December 2q) 

1780 
Charleston, South 
Carolina, surrenders 

(May 12) 



Andy hung about the smithy to watch the Whigs of 
Carolina fashion swords out of old saws, and melt 
pewter mugs into bullets. 

The Whigs said the king's troops had failed to get 
control of the Hud- 
son River, and had feJ^>^feJ3^"'T 
failed to subdue the ^^^^^^^^^"^ ^ '.^'^"M^ \ 

middle colonies, but 
that now they were 
on their way to at- 
tempt to conquer 
Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, 
South Carolina, and 
Georgia, and to join 
them all to Florida, 
which belonged to 
the king. 

When at last Savannah' surrendered, Andy fixed a 
scythe to a pole to be ready; when Charleston' sur- 
rendered, he mounted his horse and rode off with a 
party of scouts. 

Tarleton, a British general, frightened many of 
Jackson's old neighbors into joining his army, and 
pinned red rags on their coats. But no red rag was 
pinned to Andy Jackson, though he was only thirteen 
years old. He fought until he was captured, and still 
remained unsubdued. 

When a haughty British officer ordered him to black 
some boots, he stood proudly up and said: "Sir, I am 
a prisoner of war. I refuse to do the work of a slave." 

' See map. 




Andrew Jackson 



i»i 



The officer struck him on the hand with his sword, 
and he carried the scar and the desire for revenge all 
the rest of his life. 

The boy was thrown into a prison pen near Camden, ' Andrew jackson a 
where he half starved, and nearly died with the small- p"«o"«^ near camdcn. 

-^ South Carolina 

pox; but his mother, hearing of his wretched plight, 
secured his release and took him home. 

Good news came from Yorktown, Virginia, before 
Andy was quite strong again. George Washington 
had marched down from the north, and the British 
general, Cornwallis, had surrendered his arms. surrender of 

Then word came that England had made a treaty ^7ock,ber i 
of peace which acknowledged the independence of the 1783 
United States and had ceded Florida to the Spaniards, at ParT'^ °^ '"^''" 

The whole country, both north and south, talked (Septembers) 
about what kind of government the new United States 
should have. 

In the midst of all the debating, Andrew Jackson Andrew jackson 
decided to become a lawyer. He succeeded so well, ''"°'"^' ^^ '^'^J'" . 
that the very year George Washington became the first 
president of the republic, he was appointed public 
prosecutor for the western district of North Carolina. 

The western district 

The first settlers of this district of North Carolina of North Carolina 
had fled beyond the Blue Ridge to escape the royal 
governors. They had made their own laws, which 
they knew how to enforce with their guns. They had 
cleared the forests, and fought the Indians, and built 
palisaded towns along the swift -flowing streams. 

Nashville on the Cumberland became the chief 
town. At the time Andrew Jackson arrived at Nash- Nashvuie 
ville, he counted eighty cabins. The young lawyer 

> See map, p. i8o. 



l82 



Builders of Our Nation 



1792 

Kentucky lit-cc 
state (June i) 



A state constilulion 
for Tennessee 



The Federalists 
The Republicans 



Thomas Jefferson 



1796 
Tennessee admitted 
to the Union (June i) 



journeyed from court to court through the wilderness. 
Sometimes for days together he dared not Hght a fire 
or shoot needed game, lest he attract the red foes who 
ambushed along the trails. 

Jackson had much to do to keep law and order on 
this wild frontier. There were boundary quarrels and 
whisky brawls and a vast deal of breaking of heads. 
But he made himself one with the rude pioneers and 
became the owner of lands and slaves. 
Kentucky was admitted to the Union. 
"If Kentucky can send representatives to Congress, 
why can't we?" said Jackson and his friends. 

With muskets in their hands and 
long knives in their belts, they pushed 
through the forests to Knoxville, a 
thriving settlement on the Holston 
River. 

They framed a constitution for the 
state of Tennessee and asked Con- 
gress to admit Tennessee into the 
Union. 

Now there were two political parties in Congress — 
the Federalists and the Republicans. 

Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists said the 
United States government was not yet stable enough 
to allow western rufhans to help make laws. 

But Thomas JefTerson and the Republicans said 
they would risk the frontiersmen any time rather than 
the aristocrats of the east. 

The Republicans won in the debates in Congress. 
And when Tennessee was admitted as the sixteenth 
state, Andrew Jackson was elected to Congress. 




ALEXANDER 
HAMILTON 
t757-l804' 



Andrew Jackson 183 

Congress at that time held sessions in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the 

1 .1 •IjI'i- jjI second capital of the 

where the president lived m great style. united states 

For aught we know, when Jackson rode into Phila- 
delphia, dusty and worn from his long trip over the 
mountains, he met Washington's coach-and-four with 
two footmen behind in scarlet and white livery. At 
Washington's Tuesday afternoon levees the congress- 
man from Tennessee stood at one side and scanned 
everything with his keen blue eyes. There in the 
center of the room stood the president in his black 
velvet small clothes, cutaway coat, white silk stockings, 
with buckles at knee and shoe, and a 
three-cornered hat under his arm. 

All about the president stood 
Americans high in office; ministers of 
state from Europe, and ladies in silks 
with hair piled high up and powdered. 
Washington believed that the head 
of the republic should liye in a way to thomas jefferson 

^ -^ 1743-1826 

be respected by the courts of Europe. 

But Andrew Jackson did not like all this fuss and 
feathers a bit. He may have said to himself that if he 
were president, he would live in such good republican 
simplicity that even his big-hearted neighbors in Ten- 
nessee would not blush and stand on one foot. 

That was just what Andrew Jackson himself was 
doing at President Washington's Tuesday levees. He 
stood there, over six feet tall and very lank, with a high, 
narrow brow and thick reddish hair that would not 
lie flat. His dress was peculiar and his manners odd 
in the midst of so much fashion. 




i84 



Builders oj Our Nation 



lyqG 
President 
Washington's last 
mc5saae to Congress 

(September) 



Appropriation for the 
White House at 
Washington, D C. 



Andrew Jackson goes 
to the Senate 



lie returns to 
Tennessee 



American 
traders at New 
Orleans 




JOHN ADAMS 
1735- 1826 



Jackson heard President Washington deliver in per- 
son his last message to Congress. He saw John Adams 
inaugurated the second president of the United States. 
Adams lived in the same fine style as Washington. 
It was all quite too much like a king, Jackson said, 
and he voted in Congress against 
the "extravagance" of appropriating 
fourteen thousand dollars to furnish 
the new "White House," which the 
government was building at Wash- 
ington in the District of Columbia. ' 
The men of Tennessee were de- 
lighted with their congressman. They 
sent him to the Senate; but he soon 
resigned his seat to attend to private affairs. 

When he returned to Tennessee he brought with him 
pack-horses loaded with sugar, blankets, cotton, woolen 
goods, and many other things, which he exchanged 
for tallow, grain, pork, buffalo 
robes, and skins. These he sent 
from Nashville down the Cum- 
berland, the Ohio, and the Mis- 
sissippi Rivers to New Orleans, 
to sell for good Spanish dollars. 
The trip to New Orleans was 
more profitable than safe. 

Spain then owned Florida, New Orleans, and the 
territory west of the Mississippi. 

The Spaniards, who wanted the Indian trade, 
skulked along the banks of the Mississippi and sank 

' A tract of land ten miles square ceded to the National Government 
by Maryland and Virginia. The land west of the Potomac was ceded back 
to Virginia in 1846. 



M A R Y L/( 


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0^ -s^ \ 


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/^^kmA 


TON 




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/ ^ ~^ 




Tf pl\ 


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\ / 


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r^ 4 


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■^ >< 






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AlexandN 










Andrew Jackson 185 

American flatboats whenever they could. The Spanish 
governor of New Orleans secretly encouraged the attacks 
on the boats. He wanted the Tennesseans and Ken- 
tuckians to realize how difficult it would be to trade 
with New Orleans unless they were under the Spanish 
flag. He even issued a proclamation, setting forth that 
his majesty, the king of Spain, would freely give large 
tracts of land to all settlers in west Florida and Louisi- * 
ana; and that all who would swear allegiance to his 
majesty should have special privileges in trade. 

His excellency pointed out how Americans could 
never hope to trade with the rich states east of them; 
for the mountains interfered, and there were no great 
rivers that ran from the east to the west. The Mis- 
sissippi, he said, was their natural highway for trade; 
and -from New Orleans goods could be shipped straight 
to the ports of Europe and South America. 

No doubt a few pioneers were tempted to look only 
at the trade side of the question. But the most of them 
said they had just rid themselves of one king. Why 
take oath to another who would never understand a 
word they should say ? 

Then to the amazement of all the settlers beyond 
the mountains, the United States government (which 
they had rather despised as a weak, pompous show) 
spread protection around them, like a great warm 
cloak in bad weather. 

The United States bought New Orleans and the Purchase of Louisiana 
territory west of the Mississippi as far west as the Rocky '' ''' """''' ''''" 
Mountains. 

This is how the first national purchase came about : 



1 86 



Builders of Our Nation 



1801 

Thomas Jefferson 
becomes president 




NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
1769-1821 
Commissioners James 
Monroe and Robert I< 
Livingston at Paris 



The "American 
desert" 



President Jefferson, who had succeeded John Adams, 
wanted to keep the western settlements loyal to the 
Union, but he saw clearly enough that they must have 
a cheaper way to get their products to market. He 
feared, too, that even if they refused to become Spanish 
subjects, the Spanish governor at New Orleans might 
annex them by force. 

Jefferson accordingly resolved to make a land pur- 
chase along the Gulf of Mexico. Just about that time 
Spain ceded her possessions on the Mississippi to 
France. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, was 
ambitious. It looked for a while as if he might yet 
fulfill the dreams of La Salle, and plant French cities 
and towns all along the great river. But when war 
was threatened between England and France, 
Napoleon knew it would be an easy thing for 
the English troops in Canada to seize Louisiana. 
Besides, he needed money to continue his wars 
in Europe. 

And so when President Jefferson's commis- 
sioners, James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, 
presented themselves at the French court and proposed 
the purchase of New Orleans, Napoleon sold all that 
France owned on the Mississippi and west to the Rocky 
Mountains for fifteen million dollars.' 

Thus the ''gateway" to the gulf was opened wide, 
and the French, Spanish, and Mexicans of New 
Orleans became citizens of the United States. 

No one in the United States knew anything about 
the "desert" west of the Mississippi, and President 

' See following map of territorial growth. 




p A ^ 



Andrew Jackson 187 

Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis and William TiJLewislndciarke 
Clarke to explore it. expedition 

He told them to find the source of the Missouri 
River, cross the mountains, and reach the Pacific coast. 

The young men started from the trading post of 
St. Louis. They found what seemed to be the source 
of the Missouri; they crossed the divide of the Rocky 
Mountains. Ragged and half starved, they found 
their way to the Columbia River, down which they The Columbia River 
paddled to the sea that stretched on and on to China 
and Japan. 

Lewis and Clarke were gone two years, and traveled 
over eight thousand miles. They brought back much 
information about the west; but most people believed 
the country to be one, vast desert. 

It seemed just as well that it should be a desert. 
"If it were fertile beyond the Mississippi," said the 
politicians of Jackson's day, "our citizens would wander 
too far. Our republic would soon be divided." 

Meantime, the Ohio lands, once so far from civiliza- 
tion too, were attracting more attention. Ohio had TheNonhwest 
been cut out of the Northwest Territory and admitted Territory 
to the Union as the seventeenth state. ohio a°iiiicd to 

It took a long time to get news from the Atlantic '^^^ union 
coast. When a war' with England broke out the people TiJ-war^of 1812" 
of Tennessee did not hear much about it until word 
came that the British were about to attack New Orleans. 

Andrew Jackson, then commander-in-chief of the 
Tennessee militia, was ordered to muster two thousand 
men and march to Natchez to guard the southern 
frontier. When Jackson reached Natchez, he was told 

' See pp. 199-202. 



Builders of Our Nation 



1814 

The Creek Indian 
war 




1815 
The battle of New 
Orleans (January 8 



to disband his troops; for the British had changed 
their plans. During the march home the commander's 
stout courage won him the name of "Old Hickory", 
a nickname afterwards called out in very high places 
indeed. 

Massacres in the Creek Indian country soon set 
Jackson on the march again. "Until all is done, 
nothing is done," was Jackson's 
maxim in war, and he did not cease 
his task until the Creeks were com- 
pletely subdued. 

The war with England still raged 
in the north and east. It was about American com- 
merce on the high seas; but Andrew Jackson really 
cared very little what it was about. He wanted to 
take part in the fray. He had an old grudge against 
England , which the scar on his hand would not let him 
forget. 

And so it happened that as soon as he 
received orders from President Madison to 
defend New Orleans from a British attack, 
he rallied his men again. 

When Sir Edward Pakenham and 
twelve thousand redcoats landed near 
New Orleans, expecting to hoist the cross 
of St. George on its walls, they faced a huge 
breastwork of stones and logs and casks and cotton 
bales. Behind the wall Tennesseans, Kentuckians, 
Indians, negroes, and Creoles waited the command of 
a tall, spare man with rough, reddish hair, who rode 
up and down the line. 




JAMES MADISON 
1751- 1836 



Andrew Jackson 189 

The British veterans stormed the rude wall. In less 
than half an hour, more than two thousand of them fell, 
with General Pakenham among the slain. 

Only eight of Jackson's men had been killed in 
this wonderful battle of New Orleans. When the 
news reached Washington, there were bonfires and 
wild huzzas for Andrew Jackson. The huzzas grew 
louder still when news came from Europe that a treaty The treaty of peace 
of peace had been signed before the battle took place. ''''^(D°'5!j|Jf„ , 
Men said the victory showed Europe what an Ameri- 
can, even out in the wilderness, could do. 

"And who is Andrew Jackson?" they asked. 
"And what state does he hail from?" 

The hero of New Orleans soon attracted attention 
again. The Indians, negroes, and pirates of west Florida 
scalped and plundered along the southern border. 

Jackson said that if Spain could not keep order in 
Elorida, he certainly would. He marched with a jackson invades 
thousand riflemen into Spain's country and seized sp^i'^'i '^'■"'°''y 
Fort St. Marks. He hauled down the broad red banner 
of Spain and put in its place the Stars and Stripes. 

The "Big Knife," as the Indians called Jackson, 
had acted too fast for the government at Washington, 
and the posts he had taken were returned to Spain. 

Some said that Congress, to avoid war with Spain, 

should pass a vote of censure on the general; but he 

was too popular for that to be done. 

The raid into Florida showed the Spanish kins; 

1819 

how useless it was to try to keep Florida, and he sold The purchase of 
it the following year to the United States for five 
million dollars.' 

' See map of territorial growth, between pp. 186-187. 



IQO 



Builders of Our Nation 



Governor Jackson of 
Florida 



President Monroe 
visits Nashville 



i8i6 
Indiana admitted to 
the Union 

1817 
Mississippi 

1818 
Illinois 

1819 
Alabama 

1821 
Missouri 



Jackson was appointed the first governor of Florida. 
He marched into Pensacola, where the Spanish governor 
lived. The Spaniards, whose lands had been sold by 
the king, filled ships in the harbor with their household 
goods and set sail for Cuba. And so American rule 
began in what had been a foreign province. 

Governor Jackson did not remain long in Florida. 
He returned to his home, the Hermitage — a com- 
fortable brick house near 
Nashville. 

Jackson often drove 
to Nashville in 'a carriage 
drawn by four iron -gray 
horses, with black serv- 
'^ ants in livery. The 
people of Tennessee 
thought he was very 
grand indeed. 

When President Mon- 
roe visited Nashville, a 
ball was given in his honor; but it was really Jackson 
who was the hero of the ball. He was taller than the 
president and dressed in full regimentals. 

"Ah, see our general!" whispered the ladies. "He 
surpasses all in the room." 

Meantime Indiana had been admitted into the 
Union as the nineteenth state, then Mississippi, then 
Illinois and then Alabama and Missouri; so that over 
half as many states as were in the original Union now 
lay to the west of the Alleghany Mountains. 

"The East has had all the presidents," said the 
bustling West. "Let us have a president!" 




THE HERMITAGE 



Andrew Jackson 191 

Ah, who from the west could win ? Who ? Who, 
indeed, but "Old Hickory"? Who but the "Big 
Knife" of the Indians? Who but the "hero of New 
Orleans and Florida" ? 

Jackson merely laughed at first at the very idea of 
being a president. 

"No, no," he said, "I can command a body of 
troops in a rough way, but I am not fit to be president." 

In the west the friends of Jackson hurrahed for 
"Old Hickory". In the east the best politicians began 
to talk about what a champion the boastful, pushing 
west would be for the party that had its support. 

And so it came about that the plain, blunt soldier 
from the frontier was nominated, and was elected the Andrew jackson 
seventh president of the United States. ^''''"' p'"''""^''"' 

President Jackson had warm friends and bitter 
enemies. There were many questions in dispute 
between the political parties. One of these was the 
tariff question. 

"Away with wares made in Europe!" cried the 
manufacturers of New England and the middle states. 
"Put a high tax on the manufactures of other nations, 
and give us a chance to make things ourselves!" 

The voters in the southern states opposed a tax on a high' protective 
manufactured articles because they did not manu- Ify 00'^^''''^ 
facture anything. They wanted their cotton, tobacco, I 

rice, and indigo to purchase manufactured articles on 
the best terms possible. 

Whenever Congress passed measures President 
Jackson thought were not wise for the country, he 
vetoed them, which he had a perfect right to do. But thc presi<knt's veto 



192 Builders of Our Nation 

if Congress passed the measures again by a vote of two- 
thirds, they became the law, even without his consent. 

Now Jackson did not hke the high tariff. His 
friends in the south said he would support them if they 
refused to allow taxes to be collected at their ports by 
the government officers. 

But President Jackson said to himself that since 
the high tariff had become a law of the land, he must 
enforce it in every state in the Union, whether he liked 
it or not. That was what he had been elected by the 
people to do. 

The members of Congress from the southern states 
invited him to a banquet. He heard some of the 
guests say that if Congress did not change the tariff law, 
the states that didn't like the law could withdraw from 
the Union. 

Jackson knew such a course would divide the whole 
republic into many quarreling republics. He knew 
that it meant to open the way for England or France 
or Spain to conquer these weak little republics, one by 
one, and make dependencies of them. 
President Jackson's Hc kcpt thinking and thinking as he ate, but he did 

not join in the talk around him. When he was called 
upon to offer a toast, he arose. Every man at the 
table listened eagerly. All thought he would be sure 
to say something against the tariff. But he lifted his 
glass, and exclaimed: ^^Our Federal Union — it must he 
preserved 1^'' 

Dismay, then, was pictured on every face; and for 
the rest of the evening not a word was openly said 
about the tariff. 



famous toast 



Andrew Jackson 193 



South Carolina kept on agitating the question of south Carolina 

opposes th 
collectors 



tariffs until her governor ordered out the state militia '^p'--^ '^e revenue 



to prevent the officers of the United States from collect- 
ing the revenues in her ports. 

When the president heard of the treasonable act he 

. ... 1832 

sent two warships to Charleston to assist in collecting president jackson 

the revenues; and thus he won another name: "The charieTton"^''"''" 
Upholder of the Union." 

President Jackson served eight years in office. He 
grew more and more popular with the common people. 

He forced the French to pay large indemnities for 
injuries to our merchantmen on the sea. He sent 
armies to Wisconsin and to Georgia to make war on 
the hostile Indians. He advised Congress to set apart 
an Indian territory' west of the ]\Iississippi, and when 
this was done he removed the Cherokees of Georgia 
to that land. 

Even his bitterest enemies said that he was honest 
and fearless in what he believed to be right. And some- 
way he always knew how "to get the better" of his 
enemies. 

When Harvard College, out of respect for his service 
to the nation, made him a Doctor of Laws, his enemies jackson made a 
in the great audience whispered: "Why, Jackson can ^°"°'' °f l^"'^ 
hardly write his own name. And Doctor of Laws is a 
title for scholars! " 

A learned professor made a long, long speech in 
Latin. People were smiling all over the hall. Every- 
body knew well enough that "Old Hickory" upon the 
platform did not know a word the professor was saying 
to him. 

I See map, p. 218. 



194 Builders 0} Our Nation 

When the Latin speech was over, a mischievous 
student called out: "Some Latin from the new Doctor 
of Laws!" 

The old hero arose; he bowed very politely and 
stepping forward, said: "E Pluribus Unum!" 

It was the motto Benjamin Franklin had put on 
the American seal. Every schoolboy in America knows 
that it means "One made out of many." 

Cheers rent the air for the "Upholder of the Union", 
who had become a Doctor of Laws; and the most 
famous scholars hurried to the platform to shake 
his hand. 

When his second term was over. General Jackson 
Death of Andrew rctircd to thc Hermitage. Twelve years later he died, 
Jackson (June 8) white lialrcd and bent from years of faithful service 
to his country. 




DANIEL WEBSTER 

THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION 

1782-1852 

ANIEL WEBSTER was born at 
Salisbury, among the hills of New 
Hampshire, at exactly the time 
when the new republic of the United 
States was at its greatest peril. 
The thirteen states were loosely 
bound together, and the Continental 
Congress was all the national govern- 
ment there was. The delegates in the congress 
obeyed their own state governments. The small states 
were jealous of the larger ones, and there were rarely 
any two agreed about anything. 

England predicted that soon one commonwealth 
after the other would be knocking at the door of 
Parliament for protection against her neighbors. 

The Continental Congress had borrowed money 
from France, Holland, and Spain; yet when the con- 
gress tried to tax the states to raise money, there were 
riots. 

Some English papers took delight in saying that 
Americans were anarchists and would never pay debts 
to nations ruled by kings. 

"See!" said the Tories who had escaped to Canada. 
"See, what a ridiculous spectacle! Didn't we say a 
republic would be the rule of a mob?" 

"We must have a king and a standing army!" 

195 



1782 

Birth of Daniel 
Webster 

(January 18) 



The Continental 
Congress 




DANIEL WEBSTER 
1782 - 1852 



National dc1)ts to 
foreign countries 



Tories 



196 



Builders of Our Nation 



Washington offered 
a crown by some of 
his officers 



1783 
Final treaty of peace 
with England signed 

(September 3) 



1787 
The constitutional 
convention at 
Philadelphia (May) 



cried the Tories who had managed to remain in the 
country. 

Some officers spoke to General Washington about 
accepting a crown, but the great patriot would not 
listen to such a proposition. He disbanded his army 
and retired to his farm at Mount Vernon. 

When the final treaty of peace was made with Eng- 
land each colony was mentioned separately as if no 
Union existed. Even to thousands of loyal soldiers 
who had returned to their blackened towns and weedy 
farms there seemed to be no government at all. 

And while the masses of the people debated at the 
plow handles and in the taverns and shops about what 
should be done, the great leaders of the new republic — 
Washington, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton, 
James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and others were 
writing letters to one another about how they might 
save the Union. 

When a constitutional convention' met at Philadel- 
phia, people began to talk again. 

Some said the convention should agree upon a king. 
An American king for an American nation — that would 
make everything safe. 

Others said they could not give up the idea of a 
republic; but the merchants and fishermen of New 
England and the middle states should form one republic, 
the planters of the south another, and the pioneers 
beyond the mountains a third. 

Meanwhile within the convention there were differ- 
ent opinions about what would strengthen the Union. 

After months of debate behind closed doors the 



I See p. 175. 



Daniel Webster 197 

delegates signed a constitution which the Continental The constitution 
Congress submitted to the states. signed(September X7) 

Some day you will be sure to read this constitution ; 
for it is the same, with a few amendments, that we have 
today. 

People throughout the colonies read the articles 
one by one and then began talking again. There had 
never been anything in the history of the world quite 
like this constitution. 

Even some of the patriots did not agree with all of 
it. Patrick Henry disliked to have his state bound up 
so tightly with the others; and Samuel Adams, the 
hero of the "Tea Party", feared to have just one gov- 
ernment for states of so many sizes and shapes. 

Captain Webster, up in the New Hampshire hills, captain Ebenezer 
talked it over with his little son Daniel. But whatever ^^''''" 
the captain's doubts may have been, he was quite 
content when his commander-in-chief became presi- 
dent. 

Captain Webster had served under Washington 
in the Continental army. The captain's most 
thrilling story was about the treason of Benedict 
Arnold. 

Arnold was a handsome and brave young 
soldier. He had been General Washington's ''''n4M8*o''°'-'' 

trusted friend. He married a rich Tory's daughter 
and commanded some colonial troops at Philadelphia, 
where he lived in style in the old mansion of William 
Penn.* 

When Arnold obtained command of West Point Benedict Arnold's 
on the Hudson, he agreed secretly with the British to 

^ See illustration, p. 139. 




treason 



198 



Builders of Our N'aiiou 



Daniel Webster buys 
a "constitution" 
handkercliief 



The Defender of the 
Constitution 



sell the fort, which would give them command of the 
river and thus cut the united colonies in two. The 
treason was discovered, but the traitor escaped to the 
British lines. 

"Whom can I trust now?" Washington had cried 
out, when he heard of the plot. 

Daniel never tired of hearing the story, and how 
the great commander had taken his father's hand and 
said very seriously: "Captain Webster, I believe that 
I can trust you ! ' ' 

The honest captain said there were still traitors 
within the new states who must be watched. But 
days, weeks, and months went by. The Union became 
stronger and stronger. Farmers (|uit talking, to set 
their plows to the furrows, and bountiful harvests came. 

Before the first year of the republic had passed, 
Daniel had a high opinion, indeed, of the new con- 
stitution. 

He saved up his pennies. When he had twenty-five 
cents, he bought a handkerchief at a cross-roads store 
near his home. It was a wonderful handkerchief, with 
the whole constitution printed upon it. And he learned 
it by heart, word for word, though he was only eight 
years old. Years after, as you will see, Daniel Webster 
understood the national laws so well that he won for 
himself the name of the "Defender of the Constitution". 

Daniel was so frail in health that he could not do 
the hard work on the farm. He spent his time fishing 
and roaming through the woods, and reading every 
book he could get. 

When he was fourteen he was sent to Phillips Exeter 



Daniel Webster 199 

Academy. The principal of the school began his i7g6 
examination for entrance by asking him to read a 1^1X1*'""'^°''° 
passage from the Bible. Daniel's voice was so musical 
and his reading so fine that he was not interrupted until 
he had read the whole chapter. 

He was admitted to the school, where he mingled 
with the sons of rich and well-educated people. Some of 
the boys made fun of his plain, ill-fitting clothes. 
Perhaps that was the reason he could never stand up 
to speak "pieces". 

He would commit his speech to memory, and prac- 
tice it by himself until he knew every word. But when 
the teacher called his name he just sat on the bench, 
his large head bent down, his thin face very pale, and His first failures in 
his eyes staring straight at the floor. ^" >cspeaking 

When Daniel was fifteen he went to Dartmouth 

1798 

College, where he conquered his shyness so well that hc goes to Dartmouth 
for the following Fourth of July the citizens of Hanover " *"^'' 
selected him to pronounce the public oration. 

In this first great speech Webster spoke of patriotism, 
the greatness of the American Constitution, and the a i-ounh of juiy 
need of the union of all the states. 

After leaving Dartmouth he studied law. Then he 
was elected to Congress just at the time that the Union webster studies law 
was put to a very hard task. ^^^^ 

^ ^ _ ^ Enters Congress 

Congress declared war against England. This is (May) 
the way the war came about: 

England had been trying to oppress Americans on 
the sea as she had once oppressed them on land. 

England had the strongest navy in the world, and 

. . . . . .. England's impressment 

claimed the right to impress into her service any sailors of American sailors 



200 



Builders of Our Nation 



1812-1815 

The War of 1812 



The American navy 



Captain LawTcnce 



Commodore Perry 



who were even supposed to have been born under her 

flag. ^ 

British cruisers held up American ships on the high 
seas without hcense or leave. If the sailors spoke 
English they were often impressed in spite of proof 
that they were American born. Sometimes the whole 
crew were taken and the ship allowed to drift away 
with its valuable cargo. 

And so war was declared against England to protect 
American commerce. 

American troops invaded Canada. They were 
badly defeated and the forts north of the Ohio were 
surrendered to the British. 

But there were American victories on the sea from 
the very beginning. The little patriot fleet sailed 
boldly out to meet the great English navy. Someone 
afterwards said it was like David sallying forth to meet 
the giant Goliath. 

Captain James Eawrence fought an engagement off 
the coast of Cape Ann. Every 
officer on deck was either 
wounded or killed. Lawrence 
himself was struck with a bul- 
let. "Don't give up the ship!" 
called, as he was carried dying down 
the hatchway. 
"Don't give up the ship" became the motto on land 
and on sea. Commodore Perry collected a rude fleet 
on the shores of Lake Erie. He named his flagship the 
Lawrence, and hoisted at its staff a flag with the 
motto '^ DonH give up the ship'\ 




s victory on 
Lake Erie 

(September lo) 



Daniel Webster 201 

In a battle on Lake Erie, the Lawrence was soon 
riddled by British bullets. As the hull was sinking, 
Perry seized the flag and entering a small boat crossed in 
a tempest of shot and shell to another American vessel. 

tSt ^ 

The battle raged on until the British fleet surrendered Pe„y'; 
— "two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and a sloop!" 

Out on the open sea, Americans were winning 
trophies too. Within six months after the war began 
they captured the Alert, Guerriere, Frolic, Macedonian, 
and Java — more ships than proud England had lost 
in twenty years of war with the half of all Europe ! 

Success on the sea inspired new zeal on land. 
William Henry Harrison defeated the enemy on the victory of wniiam 
Thames River/ and it looked for a time as if Canada urTCes'Rivlr" 
might be annexed to the United States. (October i) 

Then defeat came again. England sent over a 
vast fleet to blockade the coast. The sea grew white The coast blockade 
with the enemy's sails. Not an American merchant- 
man dared sail from port. 

The idle vessels lay at anchor, their mastheads pro- 
tected with tar barrels — "Madison's nightcaps," the "Madison-s nightcaps' 
angry New Englanders called them. 

The merchants of New England had opposed 
the war from the first. Even Daniel Webster had 
thought the abuses of England might be avoided 
without resorting to arms. 

A part of the British fleet entered Chesapeake 
Bay. A detachment of redcoats captured Wash- ^^^ ^ ^ 

ington and set fire to the public buildings. President The burning of 
Madison and the government ofiicials fled from the capital (August''24) 
capital. It was all very shameful, indeed. 

' See map, p. 200. 



202 



Builders of Our Nation 



The Hartford 
Convention 



1814 
The treaty of peace 
at Ghent 

(December 24) 

1815 
The battle of New 
Orleans 

(January 8) 



"The Star Spangled 
Banner" 



The Union stronger 
than ever 



Some New Englanders began to say that since the 
government did not seem able to protect their commerce, 
they must try to protect it themselves. 

They called a convention of the Puritan states to 
meet at Hartford, Connecticut. It was said the dele- 
gates would plot to set up a government of their own. 
Webster was urged to take part in the Hartford Con- 
vention; but he loved the Union too well; and he per- 
suaded the New Hampshire delegates to stay at home. 

American victories soon came again. 

Then peace was made, though after the treaty, as 
we have seen,' a great British army was defeated at 
New Orleans. 

It was winter when the news of peace arrived. 
Troops fired salutes into the frosty air. Sleighs were 
driven through the streets of the cities with peace 
on the drivers' hatbands. Down at the wharves in all 
the ports of the coast there was bustle and good cheer, 
"Madison's nightcaps" were taken from the sleeping 
mastheads, and ship after ship, with cargoes piled to 
the limit, sailed prosperously forth. 

Soon every state in the Union was singing ''The 
Star Spangled Banner", which Francis Key had 
written while a prisoner with the British on Chesapeake 
Bay. 

Daniel Webster loved to sing the song in his rich 
bass voice. No doubt it strengthened even his great 
love for the Union, as it strengthens ours today when 
we sing it. 

The Union seemed stronger than ever after the War- 
of 181 2. There was really but one political party, 

I Sec p. 188. 



Daniel Webster 203 

and when Tames Monroe was elected president, an The " era of good 

•' ■"• feeling" 

"era of good feeling" began. 

After the close of the war, Daniel Webster moved to webster moves to 
Boston to practice law. A few years later he was iaw°" "p"""" 
elected to Congress from Massachusetts. in congress 

The White House at Washington had been repaired ; 

the capitol had been rebuilt, and fine chambers were 

set apart for the Senate, the House of Representatives, 

and the Supreme Court. 

There was much for the lawmakers in Washington 

" 1819 

to talk about. The government purchased the Spanish Purchase of the 
Floridas. ' Then President Monroe acknowledged the °" '''' '^"'" ' ^''"^ 
independence of the Spanish colonies in South America. 
And because he knew how weak the new republics would 
be before the great powers of Europe, he sent a message 
to Congress which all Europe might read. 

The president's message declared that the United 
States would view as an unfriendly act any attempt of 
European powers to interfere with any of the govern- 
ments of people on any part of this hemisphere, and james monroe 
that North and South America should not further be '^se-isss 

considered subject to colonization by Europe. 

This "Monroe Doctrine," as you will see later on. The "Monroe 
had much effect in keeping American soil for Americans. 

Now it did not take long to overcome the bad effects 
of the War of 181 2. The benefits of the war grew more 
and more plain every year. 

Even during the war, while raw cotton, wool, iron, Home manufacturing 
and wood lay heaped on the wharves waiting to be 
shipped to foreign mills, our merchants began to wonder 
why they could not set up mills of their own. 

' See map of territorial growth, between pp. 186-187. 




204 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Increase of 
immigration from 
Europe 



Government land 
sales in the West 



1702 
Kentucky admitted 
to the Union 

1796 
Tennessee 

1803 
Ohio 

1812 
Louisiana 



Some states offered prizes for the best knives and 
forks and the best woven cloth of American make. 

And just about the time Americans decided to try 
to have mills of their own, British cloth weavers, black- 
smiths, miners, masons, carpenters, and other mechanics 
heard from the returning British soldiers what a won- 
derful land this was. 

Presently shiploads of immigrants were corning from 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. One week brought 
fifteen hundred to five American ports. The next week 
only eight hundred landed, but the very next week 
there were over a thousand. 

The "American fever" presently spread to other 
countries of Europe. So many people wanted to come 
to America that the rates were high, and only the 
well to do could afford to pay for the passage. 

Some of these strangers, to be sure, did not find 
things to suit them, and went back home; but most 
of them set to work manufacturing wares, clearing 
forests, digging canals, or sowing vast prairies to grain. 

The government was soon selling millions of dollars' 
worth of western lands. Thousands of farmers passed 
through Pittsburg on their way to their new-bought 
farms. 

Almost before the people on the coast could realize 
that Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, and 
Indiana had become states, Mississippi, Illinois, Ala- 
bama, and Missouri were admitted into the Union. 

Nine states lay beyond the mountains. All over 
the Union new cities, towns, and villages sprang up, 
while the old ones kept on increasing in size and wealth. 



Daniel Webster 205 

And so it is no wonder that Daniel Webster's heart ^^^5 

Laying of the comer- 

swelled with pride at the laying of the cornerstone of stone of the Bunker 

,1 T-, 1 TXMi . Hill monument 

the Bunker Hill monument. (june 17) 

It was a. great occasion. The Marquis de La- Laflyetr""^' 
fayette/ the French "boy" of the Revolution, now 
nearly seventy years old, sat on the platform surrounded 
by two hundred veterans of the Revolution. 

Webster's oration 

Webster's look as he arose seemed to foretell the 
splendor of the tribute he was about to pay to the Union 
for which those gray remnants of '75 had fought.^ He 
stood nearly six feet in height. His shoulders were 
thrown far back, his massive head, with its broad, 
deep brow and coal-black eyes, was held very erect. 

None who heard his wonderful words ever for- 
got the scene.' When the orator ended, more than 
one man rose to his feet, with tears streaming down 

' ^ J. Q ADAMS 

his cheeks, to clasp the hand of another whom he i767-i848 

had considered an enemy. 

It seemed as if the "era of good feeling" would al- 
ways last. But within a year the whole country began to Taris and internal 
divide on the questions of tariff and public improvements. ""P'^°''^"^'''^ 

John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, became john Quincy Adams 
president. He believed firmly in protective tariffs and Monrot^Mlrch t) 
public improvements at public expense. The majority 
in Congress had the same views. 

A high protective tariff was accordingly laid upon 
cotton and woolen goods, and on some other articles 
imported from Europe, which Americans were trying 
to make. 

Then, because the merchants of the east wanted to National improvements 
transport their wares to the growing western markets, 

' Sec p. 171. * See p. 167. 




2o6 



Builders of Our Nation 



The Nationalists 



The Democrats 



1829 
Andrew Jackson 
president (March 4) 



Robert Hayne's 
speech on 
"nullification" 



large sums were paid out of the treasury for public 
harbors, bridges, and roads. 

Now the "New England and middle states were 
trying to build up manufactories; but the southern 
states had enough to do with their plantations of 
tobacco, cotton, and rice. The New England and 
middle states wanted rivers bridged and mountains 
leveled for a path to a western market; but the south- 
ern states had the sea to carry raw products to the 
factories of Europe, and they wished to exchange them 
for low-priced goods. 

And so the old Mason and Dixon's line' became 
pretty nearly the dividing line on the subject of tariff 
and on public improvements at national expense. 

Two parties were formed from the Republican party, 
which had seemed so united. The members of the 
tariff party called themselves Nationalists, and those of 
the free-trade party called themselves Democrats. 

The Democrats in Congress fought the high tariff 
with all their might. They called it the "tariff of 
abominations". They said, too, that public improve- 
ments at national expense were not in accord with the 
constitution. 

When the Democrats elected Andrew Jackson 
president, they hoped to abolish the "tariff of abomina- 
tions", but the Nationalists were still in the majority 
in Congress and the law remained in force. 

Robert Hayne, an eloquent senator from South 
Carolina, declared in a great speech that if a state did 
not like the laws enacted by the United States govern- 
ment, it might nullify those laws or declare them void. 

' Sec p. 138. 



Daniel Webster 207 

The advocates of "nullification" said that no 
Nationalist could begin to answer Senator Hayne's 
magnificent arguments. 

Daniel Webster was then in the Senate. He had 
only one night to prepare his reply. But he still remem- 
bered the constitution, word for word, as he had 
learned it on the handkerchief. 

When the hour came for the debate the Senate 
chamber was packed with eager politicians. 

Before Webster spoke, a friend anxiously said: 
''Daniel, it's a critical moment. It is high time the 
people of this country . should know what the con- 
stitution is." 

''Then," said the orator, " by the blessings of heaven 
they shall learn this day, before the sun goes down, 
what / understand it to be." 

Webster spoke for hours to the mass of almost Daniei webster-s 

reply to Hayne 

breathless listeners. 

He said that the Continental Congress had been a 
compact of states — and how well he remembered what 
a pitiful compact it was, with each state pulling against 
the others! — but that the United States was the govern- The government of 

. , , . . • r 1 1 T ''^^ United States 

ment of the whole people, as it boundary lines were 
-wiped out. In cases of dispute between sections the 
Supreme Court had the sole right to decide. A state, 
being only a part of the government, had no right to 
prevent the execution of national laws. Resistance to 
a federal law by a part of the people was rebellion. 

The debate between Hayne and Webster lasted for 
days. People from different parts of the country heard 
about it, and came for miles to listen. They filled the 



208 



Builders oj Our Nation 



John C. Calhoun's 
speech for secession 
from the Union 



Webster's reply to 
Calhoun 



Jackson sends 
menof war to 
Charleston 



galleries; they invaded the floor of the Senate chamber, 
and the outer lobbies and doorways. . 

Webster's speeches on "nullification" were printed 
and scattered all over the Union. Boys, who after- 
ward gave up their lives to preserve. the Union, de- 
claimed passages from them in school. 

But not all who heard or read Webster's speeches 
became Nationalists. Newspapers and conventions in 
the South began to talk about "state rights". 

When John C. Calhoun argued in the Senate for 
state secession from the Union, Daniel Webster w\as 
ready with a reply. He had reasoned that question all 
out, when the Hartford Convention was whispering 
secession behind its closed doors. 

And so there was another great battle of words in 
the Senate. Webster fought for the preservation of the 
Union as the cavaliers had once fought for their king.' 

He said there could be no secession. In a republic 
there must be obedience to the laws made by the whole 
people. 

Meantime a convention in South Carolina declared 
the high tariff null and void. The state militia was 
ordered to prevent the public officials from collecting 
the national revenues at Charleston.'' 

Now President Jackson hated the tariff as much 
as any man in his party; but he did not believe in state 
rule over the United States. He sent armed vessels 
to Charleston, which quickly brought South Carolina 
to a proper respect for the law. 

Jackson had no sympathy with the plans of the 
Nationalists for developing the country at public 



' See p. 129. 



2 See p. 193. 



Daniel Webster 209 

expense. He vetoed so many laws passed by Congress 

that the Nationalists began to call themselves "Whigs". The Nationalists cau 

n-ii '11 • cc -rr • Ai ?i i themselves Whigs 

They said they were opposmg Kmg Andrew , as the 
earlier Whigs had opposed King George. 

"I have been educated from my cradle," said 
Webster, "in the principles of the Whigs of '76." 

Whigs and Democrats were soon disagreeing about Democrats 
nearly every public question. One subject of dispute Party iines drawn 
was whether slavery should be allowed in the terri- question 
tories owned by the United States government. 

The free states of the north did not want slavery 
carried beyond the states where it already existed. 
The slave states of the south were determined to extend 
the system. 

Daniel Webster realized the dangers to the Union 
through the slavery question. He stood with his party 
for freedom; but he was willing, like Henry Clay, to 
compromise for the sake of the Union. 

Union, union, union was always the cry of the 
great Defender of the Constitution — "Liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" 

Daniel Webster helped to hold factions together 
until a party was formed which was strong enough ^g 
to prevent disunion. But he did not live to see the webster dies at 

_,. ., ^, Marshfield 

great Civil War. (October 24) 

In the latter years of his life he passed much time 

at Marshfield, his splendid home by the sea. 

It is said that when troubled with sleepless nights 

he would look out upon a little boat moored to the shore. 
On the staff of the boat hung a lantern ; and above the 

lantern's wavering light fluttered always the Stars and 



210 Builders of Our Nation 

Stripes. There were thirteen stripes for the original 
^^^° states and thirty-one stars for the states then in the fold. 

California admitted /^ i • /• . 

to the Union Califomia had been the last star pinned to the flag, 

and the "Star Spangled Banner" waved from ocean 
to ocean. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

THE PRESERVER OF THE UNION 

I 809- I 865 

N February 12, 1809, in a rude cabin 
in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln first 
saw the light. It was a cheerless 
room in which the baby lay; and a 
cheerless path seemed to stretch 
out before him — straight from his 
rough cradle hewn from a log. 
The grandfather of little Abe had emigrated from 
Virginia because of his friendship for Daniel Boone, 
the pioneer of Kentucky. He had been killed by the 
Indians when his son, Thomas Lincoln, 
who was to become the father of the 
future president, was only six years old. 

Thomas grew up in the wilderness 
without knowing even how to spell. 
He married a young girl of the settle- 
ment who was much better versed in 
book lore than himself. And thus it was 
from his mother that little Abe learned 
how to spell. When a traveling teacher opened a 
school in a near-by log house, Abe marched to the 
head of the class, though he was only five years old, 
and some of his rivals were young men and women. 

When the lad was seven, the family moved to Indiana 

and settled about fifteen miles north of the Ohio River. 

That was two years after Francis Key wrote "The 

Star Spangled Banner" while a prisoner on an English 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
1809-1865 



Birth of Abraham 
Lincoln 

(February 12) 



1769 
Daniel Boone begins 
his explorations west 
of the Alleghany 
Mountains 



1S06 
Thomas Lincoln 
marries Nancy Hanks 

(June) 



Little "Abe" at the 
head of the spelling 
class 

1816 
The Lincoln family 
removes from 
Kentucky to Indiana 

1 8 14 
' 'The Star .Spangled 
Banner" written 



212 



Builders of Our Nation 



1815 

The victory at New 
Orleans (January 8) 



1816 
Indiana admitted to 
the Union 



The "three R's" 



The Bible 



W'cem's Life of 
Washington 



ship in Chesapeake Bay. Just the year before the 
Lincolns moved to Indiana, Andrew Jackson defeated 
the British at New Orleans.' But Abe probably heard 
nothing about the war with England until much later on. 

It was a wild country he lived in. Indiana was then 
a territory^though soon to become a state — and bears 
and other wild animals were still quite numerous. 

The lad helped his father make a table and chairs 
from split logs; and beds from poles, covered with 
skins and corn husks. At night he climbed on pegs 
to the loft where the bark of a fox or the howl of a 
wolf often kept him awake. All day long he worked 
at clearing the forest for a corn field, or hunted wild 
game, or fished in a stream that ran near the cabin. 

Abe was a homely lad with large ears, coarse 
features, and bushy hair. He pinned his shirt with 
thorns and fastened his deerskin leggings with strings 
slit from hides, and buttons made of pebbles. 

After a while he started to school. He walked miles 
through the forest to learn "readin', writin', and 'rith- 
metic" — the three "R's" they were called because all 
sounded as though they began with "r". Some of the 
backwoods pioneers really thought they did. 

Abe wrote out his lessons at night on a pine board 
with a bit of charcoal. Sometimes he had a tallow 
candle, but more often the blaze of the logs in the open 
chimney was all the light there was. 

Among his books was the Bible. He read it 
through again and again. Another book was Weem's 
Life of Washington, which helped him to know some- 
thing about the history of the United States. 

» See p. 188. 



Abraham Lincoln 



213 



When Abe was twenty-one the family packed their 



1830 



possessions into an ox-cart and moved into Illinois. The Lincoln family 

. ^ . removes to Illinois 

The young pioneer helped to set up a log house on the 
banks of the Sangamon River a few 
miles from Decatur. 

He was very strong in the arms. 
He was lank and awkward, being six 
feet four inches tall. That was very 
tall, indeed. As he felled the forest 
and drained the swamps and planted 
the corn fields, he seemed like some 
giant in a fairy story. The boys and 
s:irls about him must have felt like Tom Thumbs. He 
was a kind, big-hearted giant, however, with a pleasant 
word and a broad smile for everybody; though when 
off by himself his homely face was always sad, nobody 
ever knew just the reason why. 

Once in a while a newspaper found its way to the 
settlement on the Sangamon. 




LINCOLN'S CABIN 



1830 



Abe read about PreS- President Jackson's 

ident Jackson off ering the famous toast : "Our Federal 
Union, it must be preserved!'" and about Daniel webster-s speeches 
Webster's famous speeches on the constitution in reply union ^°'*^°'' 
to Senator Hayne.^ 

The young giant liked to talk over the news with 
the men on the neighboring farms. He was invited 
to join in wolf hunts, and in log raisings when a whole woif hunts and log 
house was cut from the forest and set up in a day by 
many tough hands. Abe's hands were the toughest 
and his arms were the longest and strongest of all. 

He grew ashamed of his buckskins, which 
much too short for his legs. 



were 

Abe earns a pair of 

He ordered a pair of jean jeans 



I See p. 192. 



' See p. 207. 



2 14 



Builders of Our Nation 



On a flatboaf to 
New Orleans 



The slave auction 



Lincoln's pkdgc 



1832 
Lincoln organizes a 
company for tlie 
Indian war (April 21) 



pantaloons and split fourteen hundred rails to pay 
for the weaving and making. 

After a time he found employment on a flatboat 
that carried hogs, corn, and hay down the Mississippi 
to New Orleans. 

It is said that on one of these trips he saw slaves sold 
at an auction. The negroes stood in rows, like so many 
cattle, and were "knocked off" to the highest bidders. 
Lincoln looked in amazement at the cruel traffic. 
It is said that he cried to the crew who stood near him : 
"Boys, let's get away from this. If I ever get a chance 
to hit that thing, I'll hit it hard." 

Years afterward, as you shall see, Abraham Lincoln 
became known over the whole world as the "Liberator 
of Slaves". 

When the Black Hawk Indian war disturbed the 
peace of Illinois, Lincoln enlisted in the state militia. 
He was elected captain of his company. This pleased 
him very much, and he resolved to 
fill the office with credit. 

He knew nothing of military 

rules, but his men knew less. He 

formed them in platoon. They 

marched zig-zag until they came to 

a fence with only a narrow opening. 

The young captain argued the 

IP question with himself long before 

he reached the critical spot. He 

said he shouldn't know how to 

order the company to form single 

Yet if he brought his men to a standstill they 




STREET IN NEW ORLEANS 



file. 



would laugh in his face. 



Abraham Lincoln 



215 



A clerk in New Salem 



They reached the fence. "Halt!" he cried. "The 
company is dismissed for two minutes. It will assemble 
again on the other side of the fence. Break ranks! " 

Years afterward Abraham Lincoln, still with little Lincoin-s can to 

1 11 f 'Tj- 1 J. 1 j1 command in later 

knowledge of military rules, was to become the com- years 
mander-in-chief of all the Union armies. He was to 
direct his battalions to victory while the world looked on. 

After the Indian war was over, Lincoln clerked in a 
store at New Salem and studied law at odd times. 
He slept on the counter when the tavern was full. And 
the tavern was often full. Thousands of immigrants 
were landing in America every year, and as true as 
the honey-bee wings its way to sweet flowers, they 
swarmed to the prairies of the west. 

Abraham Lincoln helped the government surveyor a government 
measure the land for the settlers. As he dragged his ^"''''''^°'' 
chain over weary miles he kept thinking about what 
it meant to have the territories so rapidly made into 
states. 

He had read the speeches of Webster and Clay 
and Hayne and Calhoun. He understood pretty 
well the disputes about tariffs and public improve- 
ments at public expense, which divided the North 
and the South. But a new question had come up 
for debate. 

Should the territory west of the Mississippi be slave slavery or freedom? 
or free ? 

The territory north of the Ohio had been organized 
as free soil. The states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois 
held no slaves; and Wisconsin and Michigan would 
be free states. 




HENRY CLAY 
1777-1852 



2l6 



Builders oj Our Nation 



1820 

The Missouri 
Compromise 



Treaty of peace with 
Mexico signed 
(February 2) 



Discovery of gold in 
California (January) 



When Missouri asked to be admitted into the Union 
with slaves, Henry Clay offered in Congress a com- 
promise which became a law. Under this law. known 
as the IMissouri Compromise, Missouri w^as admitted 
with slaves, hut slavery was prohibited in all remaining 
territory north of a line extending from the southern 
boundary line of Missouri. ' 

The politicians of the South said the free states 
would go on increasing in number till they had control 
in Congress. Then they would set all slaves free ; and 
plantations would grow weeds, and the millions of 
dollars invested in slaves would be lost. 

It was all very discouraging to the slave-holding 
states until Texas formed a republic and was admitted 
into the Union with slaves, making the slave states 
equal in number to the free states. 

A boundary dispute between Texas and INIexico 
brought on a "war between Mexico and the United States. 

When the war was over, California and vast tracts 
of other Mexican territory became a part of the United 
States.' 

Would this soil be slave or free? 

The Pacific coast seemed far away. People said 
that question need not trouble anybody in the least. 
But the treaty with Mexico had hardly been signed 
when reports spread abroad that gold had been found 
in California. Miners were washing hundreds of 
dollars a day from the sands. 

What a rush began then to the far-away coast! 
White canvas-topped wagons jostled through sage 
brush and over the mountains; ships spread sail and 

I See map, p. 190. ^ See map of territorial growth, between pp. 186-187. 



Abraham Lincoln 217 

plowed througli two oceans to anchor within the 
Golden Gate. 

The little Spanish mission of San Francisco became 
an American town of twenty thousand inhabitants. 
Eighty-five thousand adventurers had made their home 
in the new El Dorado' before the year was out. The 
diggers of gold asked that their state be admitted into the caiifomiu becomes a 

TY ' r state 

Union free. 

Other free states in this far-away west would soon 
be coming in. The slave advocates became desperate 
in their despair. When Kansas wished admission 
they were determined to prevent it from coming in free. 

A few men, aided by President Buchanan, tried to james Buchanan 
force a slave clause into the Kansas state constitution ^'"(Mlrch'TJ ^^ 
in spite of the wishes of the majority of the citizens. 

This was carrying things so far that almost the 
whole north — Democrats as well as Whigs — cried out 
against it. 

And who do you think was one of the greatest 
defenders of the freemen of Kansas ? 

It was Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. 

During all the struggle since the Missouri Com- 
promise Lincoln had been taking part in the public 
debates. 

He had quit surveying to practice law. He had Abraham Lincoln 
entered the Illinois legislature. He had been sent to '^"°'"'=^ ^ p'^'""-"'^ 
the House of Representatives at Washington and he g 
had joined the Republican party which had been formed The Republican party 
by the Whigs, Free-soilers, and anti-slavery Democrats. "'^(February 22) 

Lincoln became the Republican candidate for United Lincoln in congress 
States senator from Illinois. 

' See p. 48. 



2l8 



Builders of Our Nation 




STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 
I8I3-I86I 
The Republicans 
nominate Lincoln 
for president 
The Democrats 
nominate Douglas 




HORACE GREELEY 
I8II-I872 



The campaign 



His opponent was Stephen A. Douglas, who was 
nick-named the ''Little Giant", because of his low 
stature and great skill in debate. 

And so when the campaign in Illinois began, two 
giants were in the field — one very short, the other very 
tall; and both great in making speeches. 

Although Lincoln was defeated for the United 
States Senate, his debate with Douglas made him 
famous all over the Union. 

He said he did not deny the right of the slave 
states to hold their slaves; but the institution of 
slavery should not be extended into the terri- 
tories. 

The Republicans nominated Lincoln for president; 
the Democrats, Stephen A. Douglas. 

And so the two giants had a battle of words again. 

Lincoln spoke in the largest cities of the east. One of 

his speeches was at Cooper Institute, New York. 

Horace Greeley, the New York editor, said of it: 

"I do not hesitate to pronounce it the very best 

political address to which I ever listened." 

Most people in the east thought that very 
high praise to be given to an obscure man from 
the west. 

The Republicans boasted about the humble 
life of their candidate from the west. 
There were "rail-splitting" parades, where mauls 
and axes were carried; and floats of log cabins, and 
flatboats. After the parade was over, "Honest Old 
Abe" stood in the flare of the torches to talk to the 
voters who thronged to see him and to hear him speak. 



Abraham Lincoln 



219 




JEFFERSON DAVIS 

1808- 1889 



In one of his debates, Lincoln said: "A house 

divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this 

government cannot endure permanently half slave and 

half free. It will become all one thing or the other." 

The slave advocates in the south soon saw what 

the end would be. When Lincoln 

was elected president a Charleston 

.^ , , paper marked "foreign" over the 

>j^\ /^^^ news from the north. 

Seven southern states organized a 
government of their own, called the 
"Confederate States of America". 
Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was 
chosen president and commander-in- 
chief of the Confederate army. 

The state militia of South Carolina seized Castle 
Pinckney in the harbor of Charleston. On Wash- 
ington's birthday Castle Pinckney fired guns for the 
Confederate salute, and r— rrr 

across the bay Fort r Y\ Ms\ 
Sumter fired for the 
United States. 

That same day Abra- 
ham Lincoln stopped 
in Philadelphia on his 
way to be inaugurated 
at Washington. He 
unfurled over Inde- 
pendence HalP the flag 

of the Union. There were thirty-four stars then and 
he pledged that each star should remain in its place. 

' See illustration, p. 168. 



Abraham Lincoln 
elected president 



The secession of 
seven states 

(February 18) 




1861 
Two salutes in 
Charleston harbor 

(February 22) 



Abraham Lincoln at 

Independence Hall 

(February 22) 



220 



Builders of Our Nation 



Lincoln takes the 
oath of ofi&ce 
(March 4) 



Military school at 
West Point 
Naval school at 
Annapolis 



Firing on Fort 
Sumter (April 12) 



A few days later, on the eastern portico of the 
capitol, he placed his hand on the open Bible to repeat 
the oath. Washington and INIadison and Jackson had 
uttered the oath when the nation was in peril. 

"I, Abraham Lincoln," he said, "do solemnly swear 
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of 
the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, 
preserve, protect, and defend the constitution." 

Now, in order to protect and defend the constitu- 
tion, the president is commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, whose officers 
are trained in a military school at West Point, New 
York, and in a naval school at Annapolis, Maryland. 
In time of war he is also commander-in-chief of the 
militia of the states. 

Commander-in-chief Lincoln of the Union army 
waited anxiously to see what Commander-in-chief 
Davis of the Confederate army would do. 

In April, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter. 
The Republicans were fierce and strong in 
their wrath. The Demo- 
crats of the North 
cried out against 
the unnatural act, 
and joined hands 
with the Republic- 




.„, ,,J^ .«.«-■ ^J.^^|^^T'»^_ . -i^^ 



Eleven States in the 

Confederacy — 

South CaroHna 

Georgia 

AIaV)ama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 



FORT SUMTER 

ans to preserve and defend the Union. 

It is a long story how great armies met together in 
battle. You will read about it in a larger book. Four 
more states in the south seceded. Yet "Honest Old 
Abe" held to the flag with the thirty-four stars. 



Abraham Lincoln 



221 



He was never a tyrant — not for one moment. He 
was more like a father who grieved over the mistakes 
of a child. Someone says he seemed to be always 
calling down from Washington to the South: "Come, 
let us reason together." 

The Confederate troops fought desperately for their 
new government. After a time their clothing became 
worn to shreds. Many marched without shoes. There 
was not enough food for all. 

Lincoln saw that slave labor in some states con- 
quered by Union arms was supplying the Confederates 
with food. He said states that had forfeited their 
own government belonged to the nation, and national 
territory should be free. 

And so, in what is called the Emanci- 
pation Proclamation, the slaves of one 
state after the other became free citi- 
zens of the United States. 

When Lincoln was elected president 
for a second term by the votes of the 
Union states, he set himself to his task 
again. With deep-sunken eyes, thin 
cheeks, and stooped frame he kept hoping for peace 
with the South. 

Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union armies, 
was then fighting around Richmond,' Virginia. 
• Jefferson Davis, president of the seceded states, 
was at Richmond, and General Robert E. Lee, com- 
mander of the Confederate armies, was defending the 
capital against many odds. There were sieges and 
marches and battles; but there were no signs of peace. 

' See map, p. 173. 



Florida 
Texas 
Virginia 
North Carolina 
Tennessee 
Arkansas ■ 





ULYSSES S. GRANT 
1822-1885 



1863 
The Emancipation 
Proclamation 

(January i) 



T865 
Lincoln becomes 
president for a 
second term 

(March 4) 



ROBERT E. LEE 

1807-1870 



222. 



Builders of Our Nation 



1865 

General Lee's 
surrender (April 9) 



The national joy 
over peace 



The Confederate 
armies disband 



One day in April, when the early trees of Washington 
were putting forth new leaves, a dispatch came to the 
White House. It was from General Grant. This is 
what the commander of the Union armies said: 

"General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern 
Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself." 

The country was saved! Lincoln now knew that 
all he had dared hope to do had been done. 

He called his cabinet together that they too might 
rejoice. The news spread through the corridors of 
the capitol and out into the streets. Telegraph wires 
proclaimed Grant's message to thousands upon thou- 
sands of anxious homes. And, as fast as the words 
could travel, church bells rang and cannon boomed 
until the sound had reached the Pacific coast. 

The Confederates were allowed to disband and to 
keep their horses for the plows. It was said the Union 
armies would soon be marching into Washington to 
pass in review before mustering out of service. 

President Lincoln and his cabinet debated about 
the restoration of the seceded states. 

"We must extinguish our resentments," said Lin- 
coln, "if we expect to live in harmony and peace." 

People of the South were already beginning to see 
that Lincoln, the emancipator, would after all prove 
to be their best friend. 

On the afternoon of the fifth day after the message 
of peace had come, the president was driving with his 
wife. "When these four years are over, Mary," he said, 
"we will go back to Illinois. I will again be a country 
lawyer. God has been very good to us." 



Abraham Lincoln 223 

That night he was shot by a half-crazed actor. A 1865 



Assassination of 
President Lincoln 



few hours later, "with malice toward none, with charity 

for all," he breathed his last. (ApriUs) 

And while Union armies in Virginia — a hundred 
and fifty thousand strong — were preparing to pass in 
triumphant review before their commander-in-chief, his 
body lay in state on its way to Oakridge Cemetery, 
near Springfield, Illinois. 

Of the army that passed, few wore regimentals. Most The procession for 

»,.,■, . ir-i 1 burial at Oakridge 

01 those m the sad procession were the fathers, mothers, near springeeid 
sisters, or brothers of the men in blue. Scarce one of 
them all but had grieved for some hero during the war. 
And their tears flowed afresh at this new, added grief. 



SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 

INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH 

1791-1872 



1701 

liirth of Samuel 
Morse 





SAMUEL F. B. MORSE 
1779-1872 

1789-1707 
George Washington 
president of the 
United States 



The Northwest 
Territory 



AMUEL MORSE was born at Charles- 
town, Massachusetts. The town was 
in full view of Boston Bay. When the 
wind was fresh the ships in the harbor 
spread broad canvas wings, and the 
water grew white with sails. But 
no steam whistles blew and no funnels puffed out 
smoke. 

On the land side no engines with roars and cinders 
rushed into the Puritan town. 

Heavy carts rattled over the cobble stones of the 
narrow streets, with now and then a fine coach for the 
"gentles", though most people in Charlcstown, as 
everywhere else, trudged along on foot with a courage 
as stout as their thick cow-hide boots. 

That was in the year 1791, when George Washington 
was president of the new United States. 

People were just beginning to find out how very 
far they must walk to reach the west edge of the "back 
pasture." 

"Back pasture" was the name the coast cities had 
given to the lands north of the Ohio. The real name 
of the region was the Northwest Territory. The 
Northwest Territory had hardly been organized before 
thousands of emigrants crossed the Alleghanies and 
set flatboats upon the Ohio River. 



224 



Samuel Finley Breese Morse 



225 



1788 

Marietta founded 



Louisiana 



1807 
Robert Fulton 
launches the 
Clermont 



Marietta at the mouth of the Muskingum was 
founded, and also Losantiville, afterward called Cin- Cincinnati 
cinnati. Soon small towns perched here and there for 
miles along both banks of the river. 

When the Northwest Territory began to form states, 
Louisiana, the new territory purchased from France, 
was called the "back pasture". Some ambitious 
people said if there were only a cheap and quick way 
to travel, settlements could be made even west of the 
Mississippi ; yet the land seemed very far off. 

Just about that time Robert Fulton invented a 
steamboat. Samuel Morse of Charlestown, then 
sixteen years old, read in a Boston paper all about 
the launching of the Clermont on the Hudson River. 

It was a boat one hundred and thirty feet long and 
eighteen feet wide with mast and sail, and on each side 
there was a great wheel. 

The inventor had named the boat the Clermont; 
but most of the crowd lined up on shore to see it 
launched had called it "Fulton's Folly". 

The Clermont had steamed up the Hudson with 
the paddles throwing spray. Some 
sailors who met it in mid-stream 
had cried out in fright at the 
sparks of fire and the dense 
black smoke from the funnel. 

In just thirty-two hours the 
steamboat had made the trip 

from New York to the sleepy old Dutch town of 
Albany. 

Samuel Morse watched every day for more news of 





ROBERT FULTON 
1765-1815 



THE CLERMONT 



226 



Builders of Our Nation 



iSlT 
A steamboat on the 
Ohio River 



The patent ofTice 



The cotton gin 




A grain cutter 

A thrashing machine 



The great natural 
resources of America 



COTTON GIN 




ELI WHITNEY 

1765-1825 



the Clermont. He had been to Yale College and had 
made some experiments with steam ; but this boat was 
far beyond anything he had dreamed could be done. 

Four years later Morse heard that Robert Fulton 
had launched a steamboat on the Ohio River. "That 
settles it," said the young student. 
''New Orleans is going to be the 
greatest city in the United States. 
The whole west will send its products 
down the Mississippi by steam." 

Morse was always interested in 
the inventions registered in the pat- 
ent office at Washington. One of 
the patents was for the cotton gin, 
invented by Eli Whitney, which had 
been in use long enough to show what a blessing it 
would be to the cotton states. One cotton gin could 
do the work of a thousand slaves. Another invention 
was a grain cutter Ijy which one man could cut five 
acres of wheat in a day; another was a thrashing 
machine which beat out as much wheat as forty 
men w^ith flails. 

He said he wished he might invent something 
which would help develop the resources of the country. 
There were swift streams for water power, and coal 
beds to feed furnaces, and there were cotton and wood 
and hemp and iron. But few people in the United 
States cared to take the trouble to manufacture any- 
thing, because England and France brought what was 
needed and raw materials were welcomed in exchange. 
Perhaps, with his odd experiments, Samuel Morse 



Samuel Finley Breese Morse 227 

might have invented some machinery for something or 
other if there had been any demand for home manu- 
factures. However that may be, he decided to become 
a painter, and went to London to study. There were samuei Morse goes 
several American artists in London. Morse did serious 
work. One of his pictures was exhibited in the Royal The London Royai 
Academy, and a plaster statue which he modeled won ""^ ""'^ 
a gold medal. 

His best friend proved to be Benjamin West, who, Benjamin west 
although he was an American, was president of the 
Royal Academy. King George IH came sometimes King George iii 
to look at West's pictures. His majesty was very old. 
Some said he was crazy. Samuel Morse thought that 
nearly all Englishmen must be crazy from the way 
they misunderstood America. 

He had hardly landed before he heard talk of war 
with America. There was much boasting in London 
about what would happen if war did break out with 
the United States. Lord Brougham, who was called a Lord Brougham 
great statesman, expected that the American republic 
would be annexed to Canada. His lordship ridiculed 
"Yankees" whose "armies were still at the plow, and 
whose assembled navies could not lay siege to a single 
English sloop of war." 

Wlien the war of 18 12 began,' Morse trembled for The Wr of\si2 
what might happen. The British navy was so great, 
the American ships were so few. Just fancy how he 
felt when he read this in an English paper: "Five 
hundred British vessels and three frigates have been 
captured in seven months by the Americans. Down 
to this moment not an American frigate has struck her 

' See p. 200. 



221 



Builders of Our Nation 



1815 

The battle of New 
Orleans (January 8 



ImmiKration from 
Europe 



flag. They traverse the Atlantic; they visit the West 
India Islands; they parade along the coast of South 
America. Nothing chases; nothing engages them but 
yields to them a triumph." 

All that was pleasant. reading for the young artist. 
And when he saw men rushing along the streets of 
London with the extras in their hands, crying out 
that the great British army had been defeated at New 
Orleans, he wished he might talk face to face with 
Lord Brougham about the "Yankee armies still at 
the plow." 

Morse returned home just after the war was over; 
but immigration from Europe had already set in toward 
the west. 

''This be a main queer country," said a man 
from Yorkshire whose little ones tugged at the skirts 
of his coat. "This be a main c|ueer country; for 
I have asked the laboring folks along the road how 
many meals they eat in a day, and they all say three 
and sometimes four if they want them. Back in 
England we have but two and they are scant enough. 
And only think, sir, many of these people asked me 
to eat and drink with them. We couldn't do so in 
Yorkshire, sir; for we had not enough for our- 
selves." 

Thousands of immigrants unloaded their baggage 
in the port of Boston to pack it again on mules or in 
ox-carts and carry it over a road cut through the forest 
to Pittsburg. At Pittsburg steamboats were waiting, 
and in a very short time the settlers were at work in 
their cabins and fields. 



Samuel Finley Breese Morse 229 

When Morse went to New York to live, he saw the ^^^^ 
same vast stream of immiCTants landing; there from Morse goes to New 

York to open a 

Europe. studio 

The artist opened a studio for portrait painting and 
became acquainted with many distinguished men. 
Among those whose portraits he painted was the 
Marquis de Lafayette, then on a visit to America. 
The great Frenchman could talk of but little else than 1824-1825 
the growth of the colonies since he had helped to set LflSe'^wsitf 
them free. '^"''"^'' 

He said he had steamed up the INIississippi and then 
up the Ohio. Everywhere on the banks of the rivers 
were farm lands, and neat towns with steeples and tall Development of the 
roofs, and broad streets that led down to the wharves. ""'^'' 
He said New Orleans would probably be the greatest 
city in the United States, because trade would naturally 
follow a river. 

But that very year Morse saw Governor Clinton 
pour a keg of fresh water into the brine of New York 
Bay. That was a greeting from Lake Erie to the ocean. The Erie canai 
The Erie Canal joined the lake at Buffalo to the Hudson ""^p''^"^'' 
at Albany. Ten days of time and half the cost of 
transportation were saved by the Erie Canal. And 
so a busy trade began between the western states and 
New York City. 

A national turnpike was built through the moun- The national pike 
tains from Alaryland. Three w^agons might be drawn ''"'"^ 
abreast along the smooth road, with its bridges arching 
the rivers. Stage lines carried passengers and mail 1830 
over the national pike into the states north of the Ohio. '^'^'^ '"■"' American 

. railway built at 

Then a railroad was built from Baltimore toward the Baltimore 



230 



Builders oj Our Nation 



1829 

Samuel Morse again 
goes to Europe 




west. And this brought so much trade that New 
York, Boston, and Philadelphia planned for western 
railroads too. 

When Samuel Morse went abroad again he tried 
to be modest alDout the progress the United States was 
making in transportation, manufacturing, and labor- 
saving machines; but his old friends said he boasted 
It quite too much. 

There was one thing he dared not mention in Eng- 
land. That was an American book. He knew hov/ 
American writers were held up to scorn. The Edin- 
burgh Review, a Scottish magazine, said: "But why 
should Americans write books ? Prairies, steamboats, 
and grist mills are their national objects for centuries 
to come." 

One evening Morse found himself in the sitting- 
room of a hotel with Coleridge, the great English poet. 
He took from his bag a book written by one of his 
New York friends. 

"What book have you, sir?" asked the poet. 
"Oh, it is only an American book," replied Morse. 
"Let me see it, please." And taking the book, 
Coleridge began to read. 

Morse retired for the night. iVt ten o'clock the 
"^■^-^^ next morning he found the poet bending over the 
^^ book — the candles lighted and the shutters closed. 
'%\j^' "'lis an admirable book!" cried Coleridge, 
who was amazed that he had read all night. 
WILLIAM cuLLEN Thc book was "Knickerbocker's History of 

BRYANT ^^^^ York," by Washington Irving. 

1794-1878 ' -^ " " 

From that time on, Morse had no need to be ashamed 



WASHINGTON 
IRVING 
1783-1850 

American books 
The Edinburgh 
Review 



Samuel Taylor 
Coleridge 



j/^ 



e^'' 




Samuel Finley Breese Morse 



231 



1777-1852 

Henry Clay 

1782-1852 
Daniel Webster 

1782-1850 



1763-1847 

James Kent 



of his countrymen in the matter of books. William 
Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, Edgar Allan 
Poc, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and 
Nathaniel Hawthorne were soon much read and admired 
by their cousins across the sea. 

It was not long before the statesmen of England 
agreed that no better orators spoke in Parliament than John c. caihoun 
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun, who josepVLIy^^ 
spoke in the American Congress ; and no better jurists 
argued in the British courts than John Marshall, Joseph 
Story and James Kent, who argued in American 
courts. 

On one of his voyages Morse heard a gentleman 
describing an experiment in electricity which he had 
seen in Paris. The electric spark had passed through 
a wire which was over a hundred feet long. 

" How soon, do you think, the current could 
pass through the wire?" asked the gentleman. 

INIorse remembered the experiments of Benjamin 
Franklin, who had sent a kite into the clouds dur- 
ing a storm. 

"I think the current would pass instantly," he 
replied. 

After the conversation he kept thinking about the 
experiment. "Why," he asked himself, "cannot sym- 
bols of some kind express the alphabet and be trans- 
mitted by the electric fluid through a wire — not hundreds 
of feet only, but miles and miles — yes, around the 
whole globe?" 

The more he thought of the idea the more con- 
vinced he was that it could be carried out. 




JOHN GREENLEAF 
WHITTIER 
1807-1878 

The experiments of 
Benjamin Franklin 
in electricity 




EDGAR ALLAN POE 
1809-1849 



232 



Builders of Our Nation 



Morse sketches an 
instrument for 
transmitting thought 




NATHANIEL 

HAWTHORNE 

1804- 1864 

1S43 
Congress makes an 
appropriation for a 
trial of the telegraph 

(March 3) 




JAMES FENIMORE 
COOPER 
1789-1851 
1844 
The first telegraph 
line pxhibitcrl 
(May 24) 



He sketched on paper an instrument for transmitting 
thought. He worked for years. Sometimes he was 
obliged to paint pictures to make money for bread. 
Sometimes crackers and tea were his only food for days 
together. 

At last, with instrument ready and a code for 
the alphabet learned, he went to Washington. 
Steam cars then ran between New York and the 
capital. He asked himself as he sped along 
whether he should dare hope that a wire would 
one day be laid along the track. 

After weeks of earnest effort, and the powerful 
support of a few faithful friends, he succeeded in 
getting a bill passed by the House of Representa- 
tives appropriating thirty thousand dollars "for a trial 
of the telegraph"; but the Senate must also pass the 
bill before it would be of any account. Some of the 
senators said Samuel Finley Breese ISIorse was as 
"breezy" as his name, and the idea of a telegraph was 
pure folly. But others, more thoughtful, remem- 
bered how the Erie Canal had been called "Clin- 
ton's Ditch", and it was bringing hundreds of 
thousands of dollars every year to New York 
state; and how the Clermont had been called 
"Fulton's Folly", yet steamboats were crossing 
the ocean. 

In the end the Senate, by a very small major- 
ity, voted the appropriation. 
The very next year a telegraph line was stretched 
from Baltimore to Washington. 



"What hath God 



wrought!" was the first formal 



Samuel Finley Breese Morse 



233 




message over the wire. And soon the world knew that 
another wonderful American invention had been made. 
John Quincy Adams, who had once been president 
of the United States, said he would "rather be a Fulton 
or a Morse than a hundred presidents," 

Morse applied for patents in most of the countries Patents in Europe 
of Europe. Ambassadors began to whisper court 
secrets in cipher; journalists, writing at sunset in a 
far-away land, knew that by sunrise their words could 
be read at home; the dying gathered his scattered 
family about his bed in time to bestow his blessing — 
every occupation in life seemed to be affected by the 
wonderful click of the telegraph needle. 

One moonlight night in October, Morse laid in New 
York harbor the first submarine telegraph. In a few 
years electric currents were passing through wire 
under the English Channel, the North Sea, the Black 
Sea, and the Mediterranean. From the vine-clad 
hills of Italy to the snow fields of Russia ran the swift 
messenger given to the use of the world by Samuel 
Morse, the American. . „ „ 

Medals and banquets and public addresses became The gift of Europe 

.... ^ TT r ^ • to the inventor of the 

a common detail m the lite 01 the great inventor, telegraph 
Finally delegates from France, Russia, Sweden, Austria 
and other countries of Europe met in Paris and voted 
the sum of eighty thousand dollars for a gift to the man 
who had shown them the use of the telegraph. 

When Cyrus W. Field began his great work of 
threading the ocean with the wire in order that the 
New World might talk with the Old, you can fancy 
how interested Morse was in the plan. 



CYRUS W. FIELD 
1819-1892 



234 



Builders of Our Nation 



Railroads 



Two ships started from opposite shores, along a 
track which had been found the best. Each ship bore 
coils of cable. The ships met in mid-ocean. The 
cables were spliced and the ends borne back to shore. 
jg J, After several unsuccessful efforts, communication was 

The first cable message finally establislicd aud presently a message of peace and 
good will was flashed across the sea from Queen Vic- 
toria to President Buchanan. 

Meantime railroads had been spanning the Union 
from state to state. And along each shining track 
poles were set up for the telegraph wires. 

Some congressmen said it was folly to try to cross 
the deserts and mountains in the west; others said 
a railroad would make the deserts bloom like a rose 
and banish the terrors of the ice-capped peaks. 

After a great deal of talking an appropriation 

was made to assist in building a railroad to the 

Pacific coast. The first ground for the Union 

Pacific was broken at Oinaha, Nebraska, then a small 

town built mostly of tents. 

Over arid wastes of sage brush and sand the work 
went smoothly enough. Then mountains were blasted 
and gorges were spanned. Hostile Indians whooped 
and brandished their knives; but the work of laying 
the track went on, and along the track rose telegraph 
poles. 

The last tie of the Union Pacific was laid at Prom- 
ontory Point north of the shores of Great Salt Lake; 
the last rail joined a rail of the Central Pacific, from 
the west. 

The telegraph wire clicked the news to New York, 




JAMES BUCHANAN 

1791-1866 
1865 
The Union Pacific 
.breaks ground at 
Omaha 



1869 
The Union Pacific 
completed 

(May 10) 



Samuel Finley Brccse Morse 



235 



It must have been a happy hour for Samuel Morse. 
The wire clicked out all the news of the celebration; 
how Governor Leland Stanford had come in his car 
from San Francisco; how the governor had driven the 
spikes — two of silver and two of gold — from Montana, 
Idaho, California, and Nevada. 

"Done!" clicked the wire at 
2:47 p. M. by Washington time, 
which was about 12:45 ^^ the 
shores of Great Salt Lake. 

Two engines — 

Facing on a single track 
Half the world behind each 
back — 

moved slowly toward each other. They touched noses, 
Eskimo fashion, in salute. 

Cheers clicked over the wires — east to the cities along 
the Atlantic, west to the cities on the Pacific coast — - 
cheers for everybody from the highest to the lowest 
who had had anything to do with the road. Perhaps 
the heartiest cheers of all were for Ulysses S. Grant, uiysses s. Gram 
the new president of the United States, and Samuel dghfeemhtresidt-nt 
F. B. INIorse, the old electrician who had abridged time °^ '!'',': ",^''^^^'^'''' 
and space with a little iron thread. 




A RAILWAY SCENE 



(March 4) 



. i843 
The birth of 
William 
McKinley 
(January 20) 




1845 
The annexation of 
Texas 

1848 
Mexico cedes land 
to the United States 

i860 
William McKinley 
in college 



WILLIAM Mckinley 

THE TWENTY-FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 

STATES 

1843-1901 

ERHAPS every mother whose son is born 
in the United States has the right to hope 
that some day her son may be presi- 
dent. But if Mrs. McKinley had such 
a hope in her heart as she bent over 
Wilham's cradle, she could think of his 
being president only as far west as the 
Rocky ]\Iountains. 
When William McKinley was born, the United States 
was bounded on the west by Texas, which was owned 
by the Spaniards; the high ridge of the Rocky JNIoun- 
tains, and a stretch of the Pacific Ocean 
along the coast of Oregon. ' 

Some people said the nation was even 
then too large for one president to rule. 
When William was two years old 
Texas was annexed to the Union. And 
then INIexico ceded such a vast tract of 
land that the whole west line of the 
United States bordered on the ocean. ^ 

William went to Allegheny College, 
leader in a debating society. Whenever the question 
was about the government he defended the expansion 
of our territory. He said the American flag was broad 




WILLIM McKINLEY 
1843-1901 

He became a 



'See map, p. 190. 



2 See map, p. 
236 



William McKinley 237 

enough to cover all lands and all peoples that sought 
protection beneath its folds. 

In the very midst of this school-boy debating, seven 
states in the -south seceded from the Union' and set The confederate 

(. 1 . Ti. 1 1 J T i.U government organized 

up a government of their own. It looked as if the (February is) 
boasted flag were soon to be torn quite in two. 

When President Lincoln issued a call for troops to President Lincoln 
defend the Union, William McKinley, with thousands (Aprii 15) 
of other young men still in their teens, hurried to enlist 
in the Union army. j86i 

McKinley was a private at first, then sergeant, then McKimey enlists 

■^ ^ ^ ' , , in the army (June) 

lieutenant, then captain. And then for service in the 
reserve corps at Washington he was brevetted major 
by the president. 

Though the major was only twenty-one years old, 
he had already shown the strong, manly character 
which was to make him a leader of men. ^^^5 

The surrender of 

He rejoiced with the throng on the streets of Wash- General Robert e. Lee 
ington when news of peace came, and he mourned yi^/j^^jj^^, 
with the rest when President Lincoln was shot by an assassination of 

President Lincoln 

assassin. (April is) 

Little did anyone who saw the erect, stalwart young 

fellow in blue regimentals dream that he too would 

some day be president, and would also fall by an 

assassin's hand. 

After the army of volunteers was mustered out of 

service, McKinley studied law. He began practice in McKiniey begins the 

Canton, Ohio. His friends predicted that he would ^""'"'" ''"' 

one day be judge. 

When the Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant uiysses s. Gram 

for president, INIcKinley took part in the public speaking. 

• Sec p. 219. ' . 



238 



Builders of Our Nation 



The "Monroe 
Doctrine" 

1864 
Napoleon III sends 
an armv to Mexico 




PHILIP H. SHERIDAN 
I831-I888 

1867 
Heath of Maximilian 
(June 10) 



There was a vast deal of talk about how the seceded 
states should again take their place in the Union, and 
what should be done with the millions of black frecd- 
men; and whether the "Monroe Doctrine'" meant 
this or meant that. 

People were talking about the "Monroe Doctrine" 
because Mexico had been invaded by foreign troops. 

While the United States was busily occupied with 
the terrible war within her own borders, Napoleon 
III of France sent an army into Mexico, overthrew 
the republic and seated on a throne an Austrian 
prince with the title of INIaximilian I. 

More than one monarch in Europe watched 
then to see what would become of the "Monroe 
Doctrine", which forbade foreign occupation 
of American soil. 

The United States government quoted the 
doctrine in no gentle voice, and sent General 
Phil Sheridan to the Rio Grande with an army. 
Napoleon withdrew the French troops. Maximilian 
refused to leave Mexico and was shot by the Mexicans, 
who again proclaimed a republic. 

Some of the campaign orators said 
the United States should not meddle 
with Mexican affairs; but William 
McKinley defended the action of the 
government. He said his motto was 
"America for Americans". 

He defended the purchase of 
Alaska, which some people called 
"Seward's Folly" because William H. Seward had 

' See p. 203. 




WILLIAM H. SEWARD 
I80I-1872 



William McKinley 239 

negotiated the purchase v/ith Russia. Alaska was a jg^ 
Sfreat territory in the northwest corner of North America ^we purchase of 

_ , Alaska from Russia 

with only a bit of ocean called Bering Strait between (October) 
it and Asia. ' Most people thought Alaska was made 
up of little else than icebergs and snow fields. Seven 
million two hundred thousand dollars seemed a large 
sum to pay for just snow and ice. 

William McKinley said Alaska was American soil 
and should be owned by Canada, Mexico, or the United 
States. He said the United States had the best govern- 
ment in the world, and should extend its blessings 
wherever it justly could. 

At last the speechmaking ended, and Ulysses S. uiysses s. Gram 
Grant was elected president. 

The whole country was soon divided on the question 
of giving the negro the right to vote at the polls. When 
McKinley said he was in favor of negro suffrage a 
friend urged him to avoid speaking about it in 
public. 

"You will ruin your chances for Congress, 
William," said the friend. 

"Be that as it may," said McKinley, "I shall james a. g'arfield 
speak out my views whenever I can." 

The fifteenth amendment to the constitution, sccur- ThJfif^°, 
ing to the negro the right of suffrage, was ratified by 



inaugiirated (March 4) 




1831-1881 



The fifteenth 
amendment ratified 
(March 30) 

the states and became a law. A few years later the 1876 
fearless young Republican was elected to Congress, ^''^^^"^ey «=iected to 



Assassination of 
President Garfield 



He was still in Congress when James A. Garfield was issi 
shot by a disappointed office-seeker. And again William 
McKinley mourned a martyred president, with no (J^^y^) 
thought of a like fate for himself. 

' See map of territorial growth, between jip. 186-187. 



240 



Builders 0} Our Nation 



The McKinley 
Tariff Bill 

1892 
McKinlcy inaugurated 
governor of Ohio 

(January 4) 

1896 
McKinley nominated 
for president by the 
Republicans 

WiUiam J. Bryan 
nominated by the 
Democrats 




WILLIAM J. BRYAN 
Territorial extent 

1897 
Discovery of gold 
in the Klondike 



McKinley introduced in Congress a bill for a high 
tariff which caused a great deal of discussion. 

He was elected governor of Ohio and served his 
state so well that he was re-elected for a second term. 
Then he practiced law until he was nominated by the 
Republican national convention for president of the 
United States. 

William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was nominated by 
the Democratic party, and minor parties also had 
candidates in the field. 

After one of the most exciting campaigns in our 
history the Republican candidate was elected. 

At the inauguration of William McKinley, 
his mother, then very old, was an honored guest. 
The place to which her son had been called was 
higher than she could ever have dreamed of as 
he lay in his cradle. 

The United States extended from sea to sea. 
There were forty-five states and six territories, all at 
peace with one another and with the world. 

Before the summer was over reports were spread of 
discoveries of gold along the Klondike River, in British 
territory, near the boundary line of x\laska. The same 
mad rush for gold began that had once so quickly 
settled California. Thousands jostled each other to 
obtain ship passage for Alaska. Every available vessel 
was pressed into service at Seattle and other ports along 
the Pacific coast. IMany thousands also tramped over- 
land with sledges and dogs. 

When new gold fields were discovered in Alaska, 
President McKinley established a military post on the 



William McKinley 



241 



upper Yukon. Towns sprang up like magic; railroads 
were built; telegraph wires were laid. Presently 
"Seward's Folly" was asking to be represented in 



Congress. 



Meantime President McKinley was facing a war 
with Spain. 

Spanish oppression in Cuba had become unbearable. Spanish oppression 
The Cubans had taken up arms against the govern- 




ment, and the Spanish governor of the island was 
trying to starve them into submission to the unjust 
laws imposed by the Spanish Cortes.' 

The governor drove the country people into the 
cities and towns; he burned their sugar and tobacco 
houses and destroyed their tools and machinery; so 
that they might have neither money nor food with, 
which to prolong their war. 

Thousands of Cubans were starving to death. 
Americans who were in business in Cuba suffered with 
the rest. 

The king of Spain was Alfonso XIII. He was only Alfonso xiii, king 
a boy; and his mother, Maria Christina, ruled as queen ''^^^'"° 
reiient. 




KING ALFONSO 
1886- 



' The Cortes is the parliament which assembles at Madrid. 



242 



Builders of Our Nation 



1898 

The destruction of 
the Maine 

(February 15) 




k^ 



THE WRECK OF THE MAINE 



ConRress votes an 

appropriation for 

national defense 

(March 7) 



Congress declares 
war with Spain 



President McKinley thought it was possible that the 
real facts about the bad government in Cuba had not 
been reported to the queen. He accordingly sent a 
protest to Spain and pledged his support in any effort 
toward an honorable peace. 

Before a change had come in the inhuman treatment 
of the Cubans, the United States battleship Maine was 
blown up in Havana harbor, and two hundred and sixty- 
six American sailors were killed. 
Many Americans believed that the 
ship had been destroyed by Spanish 
officials. The whole nation cried out 
anew against the terrible condition of 
Cuba. But even then war might 
have been averted if Spain had ceased 
the barbarous methods employed in her effort to bring 
the island to terms. 

Anticipating war between the United States and 
Spain, Congress voted fifty million dollars for national 
defense. There was not a single vote in either the 
Senate or the House against this vast appropriation. 
President McKinley finally said in a message to 
Congress that the war in Cuba was a menace to this 
country, and asked authority to use such measures as 
might be necessary to bring it to a close. 

Then Congress resolved that a state of war had 
existed since April 21. 

The president called on the states for volunteers; 
and booths were set up in cities and towns where men 
were mustered into service. 

One booth in New York City was in Union Square — 



William McKinley 



243 



Preparation for war 




just beneath the bronze equestrian statue of Wash- 
ington, whose out-stretched hand seemed to urge men 
on to their mission of mercy and peace. 

Volunteers ralhed from the north and the south, 
from the east and the west, with the same earnest zeal 
and marched toward the Atlantic coast. 
Admiral Sampson and Commodore Admiral Sampson 
Schley hurried south to blockade Cuban commodore schiey 
ports. 

Spain hoped that some one of the 
great powers of Europe who held trade 
relations with the island would inter- 
vene to break the blockade. 

England's interests in the island were 
greater than those of any other foreign 
nation. But England refused to take any 
part in the war. The dignified attitude 
of President McKinley had challenged the respect of 
all the great powers. 

While our whole nation was anxiously waiting for 
news from the Cuban coast, astounding news came 
from Hong Kong' by cable across the Atlantic. 

Commodore Dewey, in command of the x\siatic 
squadron, had sailed to Luzon,' one of the Philip- 
pine Islands, and had entered Manila Bay. He had 
sunk ten Spanish ships without the loss of an American 
sailor, and held the city of Manila at his mercy. ^^ ^^^, t^ 

' -' .' Commodore Dewey s 

A few weeks later, the fleet of the Spanish admiral, victory in Manila 

' ^ ' Bay (May i) 

Ccrvera, in an attempt to escape from the harbor of The navai battle 
Santiago,^ on the southeast coast of Cuba, was pursued " (juiy'i)" 

' There was no cal)le, as yet, across the Pacific Ocean. 
2 See map, p. 245. 3 See map, p. 241. 



jHington monument 
union square, n. y. 




GEORGE DEWEY 
1837- 



244 



Builders oj Our Nation 



Santiago occupied 
by American troops 
(July 17) 




Porto Rico 
formally 

surrenders to the 
United Slates 
(August 17) 



Hawaii annexed 
(August 12) 



i8g8 
The treaty of 
peace with Spain 

(December 10) 



W. T. SAMPSON 
1840- 1902 




by the combined fleets of Sampson and Schley. Four 
Spanish cruisers and two torpedo boats were destroyed 
or beached with the loss of only one 
American sailor. 

Then the city of Santiago and the 
Spanish army of about twenty -five 
thousand men surrendered to General 
Shafter. 

A few days later General Miles landed 
on the south coast of Porto Rico.' 
He was marching north toward San 
Juan, the capital of the island, when 
telegraph wires ticked under the ocean the story of 
peace. The Stars and Stripes soon waved over San Juan 
without the loss of a life. 

Meantime the little republic of Hawaii, southwest of 
California, had been permitting American 
warships to coal at Honolulu. There was 
danger that Spain might attack the islands. 
When the Haw^aiian government asked 
to be annexed to the United States, Con- 
gress passed a - 
joint resolu- 
tion for the an- 
nexation. And 
so the territory 

of the Union was increased by 
a fme group of islands, with 
some of the best harljors in 
the world. 

The final treaty of peace 

' Sec map, ])• 246. 



HA I//A U 








WINFIELD S. SCHLEY 
1839- 



William McKinley 



245 



with Spain was signed at Paris. By this treaty Spain 
surrendered all claim to Cuba, ceded Porto Rico' in 
the West Indies, and the island of Guam, ^ one of the 
Ladrone Islands, to the United States. Spain also ceded 
the Philippine Archipelago," containing over a thou- 
sand islands, to the United States, surrendering all claims 
for the sum of twenty million dollars. 

Then came the last act of Spain on the splendid 
island she had lost. The remains of Christopher 
Columbus were solemnly removed from their resting 
* place in the cathedral at Plavana - 
by the returning Spanish troops. 
What the great admiral had found 
the misrule of Spain had 
lost, never to be re- 
gained. 
^ As for the United 

States, the war with 
Spain had shown 
to the world the 
strong, earnest 
-^ qualities in 
American manhood. 
It had bound all 
parts of the Union 
together in good 
feeling and high 
aspiration. And so in helping others the people of the 
United States reached a more cordial understanding at 
home, and won the increased respect of the nations 
abroad. 

' See map, p. 246. ^ Sec map of territorial expansion, bet. pp. 248-249. 




SAMAn , 






iSS? 



After the war 



246 



Builders 0} Our Nation 



Uprisings in the 
Philippines 



I goo 
War with China 



President McKinley was not deceived by the treaty 
of peace into thinking that his task was done. There 
remained a still greater work to do for the aliens who 
had found protection under our flag. 

Cuba was to be encouraged in her effort to become 
an independent republic; and Porto Rico and the 
Philippines were to be given self-government as free as 
any state in the Union when they had proved their worth. 

In the far away Philippines it seemed difficult for 



I] 


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1*6/ ^'^^^Vr-^'Vf^f'*^)^^ P0P70 P/CO 


"^ ' B B e A N ^ tiii.i 




NELSON A. MILES 
1839- 



the natives to realize that the iron heel which had been 
lifted had not been raised only that another might crush. 
There were uprisings all over the islands. But so firm 
was President McKinley' s faith in the final peace that 
he was not in the least dismayed. ''Rebellion," he 
said, "may delay but it cannot destroy the Amer- 
ican flag's mission of liberty and humanity." 

Just about this time there was another mission 
upon which the president sent the American flag. 
Several regiments carried it across the Pacific 
Ocean to China, to protect American citizens 
whose lives were endangered by the "Boxers". 

The Boxers were a Chinese secret society 
which hated foreigners and had pledged to put 



William McKinley 247 

to death those who were living within the empire 
— Germans, Russians, ItaHans, Frenchmen, English- 
men, Americans. There were a great, many foreign 
merchants living in China to carry on trade, and there 
were many missionaries who labored to convert the 
heathen Chinamen to the Christian religion. 

The Boxers hated the missionaries because they 
feared they would overthrow the national religion, and 
they hated the merchants because they were introdu- 
cing the railroad, the telegraph, the steamboat and 
other modern inventions which seemed to take labor 
away from the natives. They could not understand 
the wonderful value of modern methods for carrying 
on trade. 

The Boxers began to destroy the railroads and cut 
down the telegraph poles. They massacred some natives 
who had professed Christianity; then they killed some 
white missionaries and burned their churches. Troops 
from the Chinese imperial army joined the Boxers until 
thousands of yellow madmen were marching from city 
to city to put foreign residents to death. 

And so England, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, 
and the United States joined together to defend their 
countrymen. The united armies captured Pekin and 
Tientsin and held them until China sued for peace, and 
made pledges to protect the citizens of other countries 
who lived within the empire. 

President McKinley had served the people of the President MrKiniey 
United States so well during almost four very eventful '■''"'■'^"'''' 
years that he was re-elected president, with Theodore 
Roosevelt, of New York, vice-president. 



1900 



248 Builders of Our Nation 

The new term began the year after the twelfth census 

was taken. The census of a country determines its 

population, wealth, and general condition. In the 

^790 United States the census is reoristered every ten years. 

The First Census m >j . * 

the United States Thc first ccnsus was taken when George Washington 
was president. It showed a population of less than four 
million, and almost no manufactures. The twelfth 
census, during the administration of William McKinley, 
showed a population of over seventy - six million. 
The value of manufactured articles was nearly double 
that of agricultural products, yet the value of farm 
lands had increased over all former years. 

President INIcKinley resolved to visit the different 
sections of the country to see for himself the marvel- 
ous progress which was being made. Wherever thc 
president went he was received with such hearty hospi- 
tality that someone said another "era of good feeling" 
was at hand. 

When he reached the Pacific coast he knew well 
that the possible limits of his journey -had not been 
reached. Across a stretch of sea lay Hawaii, and 
farther on the Philippines with the millions of dusky, 
half-savage islanders. The president had vast plans 
for schools and churches and factories and waving 
fields of grain, which would soften savage nature. 
The thought of these islands could not fail to remind 
him that beyond them lie China, which Marco Polo 
had once revealed to Europe; and Japan, farther 
north, once so wrapt in isolation from all the world. 
Also that railroads, telegraph lines and modern ideas 
of every kind were awakening the Old World to a 




SHOWING TERRITORIAL EXPANSION 
OF THE UNITED STATES 

I I U.S. AND DEPENDENCIES 

I I U S . PROTECTORATE (CUBA) 

I I 



William McKinley 249 

new and vigorous life, and opening up untold pos- 
sibilities in the line of commerce. 

When President INIcKinley, on his return to the The Pan-Amencan 
East, visited the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo Exposition 
his mind was teeming with the emotions aroused by 
his tour through the Union. On President's Day, in 
an eloquent address, he reviewed the past in our 
national growth. Among other things for the future 
he urged that an isthmian canal should be built to 
unite the two oceans that commerce might more freely 
pass to and fro between all the nations of the earth. 

At an afternoon reception in the Temple of Music 
in Buffalo President McKinley was shot by a Polish 1901 

,. *r 1 1 1 1*1 rr^i 1 The assassination of 

anarchist. A few days later he died. J heodore president McKiniey 
Roosevelt, the vice-president, at once became president, '^^''p'^"''" ^^ 
and pledged himself to carry out the wise plans of the 
great man whose name statesmen had already begun 
to place beside those of Lincoln and Washington. 

Rarely has our nation showed such honor and 
respect to a dead president as was shown to William 
McKinley. His public and his private life had been 
so free from reproach that when the funeral services 
were held at Canton, Ohio, all business was suspended 
throughout the United States; and at that hour, in the 
Spanish Islands which had been freed from oppression 
by his helping hand, bells were tolled and dusky faces 
turned in solemn silence toward the Stars and Stripes 
that hung at half mast above the public buildings of 
the towns. 

The most important measures that had interested 
President McKinley were the independence of Cuba; 
the self-government of Porto Rico and the Philip- 



250 



Builders oj Our Nation 




ESTRADA PALMA 
1835-1908 

1902 
Estrada Palma 
inaugurated i resident 
of Cuba (Mciy 20) 



Panama Canal 
route 



pines; and the building of an isthmian canal to join 

the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. 

President Roosevelt encouraged the Cubans to 

establish a republic. After Estrada Palma had been 

elected the first president of Cuba by the votes of 
the Cuban people, President Roosevelt recalled our 
troops that had kept peace in the island since the war 
with Spain, and he ordered that the protecting flag of 

"^the United States should be taken from all the public 
buildings that the Cuban flag might wave over a land 
as free as our own. 
He continued the work of self-government which 

President McKinley had begun in Porto Rico and the 




PACIFIC OCEAN 



Philippines appointing native citizens to offices of 
trust wherever it seemed wise to do so. 

Meantime, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands, 
the Philippines — yes, and even little Guam' in the 
group INIagellan had called the Ladroncs because an 
Indian there had stolen one of his rowboats — were 
eagerly watching w^hat the United States was going to 
do about a canal between the two oceans. 

'See map of territorial expansion, between pp. 248-249. 



William McKinley 



251 



1904 

Treaty for the Panama 
Canal 



If you study the map' you will see how these different 
groups of islands lie in the track of ships from Europe 
and the east coast of the United States to Asia by way 
of an isthmian canal. 

President Roosevelt and John Hay, Secretary of 
State, concluded a treaty with the Republic of Panama. 
By this treaty the United States was authorized to 
build a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. A 
great army was to be called together again to invade 
foreign soil — an army of peace, with shovels and 
spades, to dig the short way to China and the Spice 
Islands which Christopher Columbus had so wearily 
sought more than four hundred years before. 

Vice-President Roosevelt, after the death of Presi- 
dent McKinley, had been quietly sworn into the ofhce 
of president at Buffalo, New York. He fulfilled the 
pledges of the dead president so well that at the next 
election he was chosen by the people themselves. 
When he was publicly inaugurated on the balcony of 
the capitol at Washington, he again repeated thc,,^ 
words 'fl do solemnly swear that I will faithfully 
execute the office of President of the United States, theodore^roosevelt 
and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect 
and defend the Constitution." 

No president in the history of the United States 
has ever proved false to this pledge which is required 
by the constitution and which was first uttered by 
George Washington when thirteen impoverished little 
states formed a permanent Union. 




'See map of territorial expansion, between pp. 248-249. 



THE ADMISSION OF STATES AND TERRITORIES INTO THE 
UNION, AND THEIR RATIO OF REPRESENTATION 
BASED ON THE CENSUS OF 1900 



3 
4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 



13 



14 
15 
16 

17 

18 

19 

20 



23 
24 
25 

26 

27 
28 

29 
30 
31 
32 

33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
4.0 

41 

42 

43 
44 
45 
46 



States 



Delaware 

Pennsylvania. . . 
New Jersey .... 

Georgia 

Connecticut. . . . 
Massachusetts. . 

Maryland 

South Carolina. 
New Hampshire 

Virginia 

New York 

North Carolina. 
Rhode Island . . . 

Vermont 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Ohio 

Louisiana 

Indiana 

Mississippi 

Illinois 

Alabama 

Maine 

Missouri 

Arkansas 

Michigan 

Florida 

Te.xas 

Iowa 

Wisconsin 

Cahfornia 

Minnesota 

Oregon 

Kansas 

West Virginia. . 

Nevada 

Nebraska 

Colorado 

North Dakota.. 
South Dakota. . 

Montana 

Washington. . . . 

Idaho 

Wyoming 

Utah 

Oklahoma 



Ratified the 
Constitution 



25. 
26, 



Dec. 7 

Dec. 12 

Dec. 18 

Jan. 2 

Jan. 9 

Feb. 6 

April 28 

May 23 
June 
June 
July 

Nov. 21, 

May 29, 

Admitted to 

Union 

March 4 
June I 
June I 
Feb. 19 
.'\pril 30 
Dec. II 
Dec. 10 
Dec. 3 
Dec. 14 
March 15 
Aug. 10 
June 1 5 
Jan. 26 
March 3 
Dec. 29 



1787 
1787 
1787 
1788 
1788 



Dec. 

May 

Sept. 

May 

Feb. 

Jan. 

June 

Oct. 

March 

Aug. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

July 

July 

Jan. 

Nov. 



16 



1789 
175)0 

the 

1791 
1792 
1796 
1803 
1812 
1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1836 
1837 
1845 
1845 
1846 
1848 
1850 
1858 

1859 
1861 
1863 
1864 
1867 
1876 
1889 
1889 



1890 
1890 
1896 
1907 



1900 
Repre- 
senta- 
tives 



5 

14 

6 

7 
2 

10 
37 



II 
10 
21 

7 
13 

8 

25 
9 
4 

16 

7 
12 

3 
16 



looS 
Elec. 
Votes 



3 
34 
12 

13 
7 

16 
8 
9 
4 

12 

39 
12 

4 



4 

13 
12 

23 

9 
15 
10 
27 
II 

6 
18 

9 
14 

5 
18 

13 
13 
10 
II 
4 
10 

7 
3 
8 

5 
4 
4 
3 
5 
3 
3 
3 
7 



252 



Appendix 



253 





Territories 


Organized 


I 

2 

3 
4 

5 


District of Columbia 

New Mexico 

Arizona 

Alaska 

Hawaiian Islands 


March 3, 1791 
Sept. 9, 1850 
Feb. 24, 1863 
July 27, 1868 
June 14, 1900 






Dependencies 


Acquired 


I 
2 
3 

4 

5 


Guam 

Philippine Islands 

Porto Rico 


1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1904 


Tutuila 

Panama Canal Zone 



EUROPEAN SOVEREIGNS CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH COLO- 
NIAL HISTORY 



ENGLAND 

Henry VII 1485 

Henry VIII 1509 

Edward VI 1547 

Mary 1553 

Elizabeth 155S 

James 1 1603 

Charles 1 1625 

Commonwealth . . .1649 

Charles II 1660 

James II 16S5 

^^"illiam III and 

Mary II 1689 

Anne 1702 

George 1 1714 

George II 1727 

George III . .1 760-1 S20 

• Charles V, Emperor of 



FRANCE 

Charles VIII 1483 

Louis XII 1498 

Francis 1 1 5 1 5 

Henry II 1547 

Francis II i559 

Charles IX 1560 

Henry III 1574 

Henry IV 1589 

Louis XIII 1610 

Louis XIV 1643 



Louis XV 1 715 

Louis XVI 1 774 

Republic . . . . 1 793-1804 

Germany. 



SPAIN 

Ferdinand and 

Isabella i479 

Charles I' 1516 

Philip II 1556 

Philip III 1598 

Philip IV 1621 

Charles II 1665 

Philip \' 1700 

Ferdinand VI 1 744 

Charles HI i759 

Charles IV ..17SS-1S08 



254 



Appendix 



RULERS OF PRINCIPAL FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN igio 



Country 

Austria-Hungary 

Belgium 

Brazil 

Chili 

China 

Cuba 

Denmark 

France 

Germany 

Great Britain . . . . 

Greece 

Italy 

Japan 

Mexico 

Netherlands 

Norway 

Persia 

Peru 

Roumania 

Russia 

Servia 

Spain 

Sweden 

Switzerland 

Turkey 



Ruler 

Francis Joseph (Emperor) 

Albert I (King) 

Nito Pecanha (President) 

Pedro Montt (President) 

Hsuantung (Emperor) 

Jose Miguel Gomez (President). 

Frederick VIII (King) 

Armand Fallieres (President). . . 

William II (Emperor) 

George V ( King) 

George I (King) 

Victor Emmanuel III (King). . . 

Mutsu Hito (Mikado) 

Porfirio Diaz (President) 

Wilhelmina (Queen) 

Haakon VII (King) 

Ahmud Mirza (Shah) 

A. B. Legula (President) 

Charles (King) 

Nicholas II (Czar) 

Peter (King) 

Alfonso XIII (King) 

Gustaf V (King) 

Robert Comtesse (President) . . . 
Mohammed V. . (Sultan) 



Accession 

1848 
1909 
1909 
1906 
1908 
1909 
1906 
igo6 
1888 
1910 
1863 
igoo 
1867 



1905 
1909 



1894 

1903 
1886 
1907 
1910 
1909 



DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE, 1910 
Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary 

Salary $17,500 



Austria-Hungary 


Great Britain 


Mexico 


Brazil 


Italy 


Russia 


France 


Japan 


Turkey 


Germany 







ENVOYS EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTERS 
PLENIPOTENTIARY 

Salary $10,000 to $12,000 



Argentine Republic 


Greece 


Persia 


Belgium 


Guatemala 


Peru 


Bolivia 


Havti 


Portugal 


Chili 


Honduras 


Roumania 


China 


Morocco 


Salvador 


Colombia 


Netherlands 


Siam 


Costa Rica 


Nicaragua 


Spain 


Cuba 


Norway 


Sweden 


Denmark 


Panama 


Switzerland 


Equador 


Paraguay 


Venezuela 



INDEX 



Acadia, 117 

Acre, 17 

Adams, John, 152, 168, 174, 184 

Adams, John Quincy, 203, 233 

Adams, Samuel, 165, 166, 197 

Adriatic Sea, 14, 21 

Africa, i. 16, 26, 42, 65 

Alaska, 238. 240 

Albany, 106, 22s 

Alden, John, 93-100 

Alert, (he, 201 

Alfonso XIII, 241 

Algonquins, 5, 96 

Alleghany Mts., 125, 224 

Allegheny River, 157 

Allen, Ethan. 168 

America, i, 28, 36, 46 

Amherst, Jeflfrey, 148 

Amsterdam, 104, 109 

Annapolis, 220 

Anne, Queen, 140 

Arabs, 20, 24, 34, los 

Arkansas River, 121 

Arnold, Benedict, 197 

Atlantic Ocean, 23 

Australia, 16 

A Vila, Don Pedro de, 46, 55, 60 

Azof, the Sea of, 78 

Azores, the, 27, 30 

Aztecs, 7 

Bagdad, 19 

Balboa, 47, 81 

Baltimore, Lord, 129, 138 

Baptists, loi, 166 

Baratha, Monastery of, 28 

Barcelona, 40 

Bayard, Judith, 106 

Beaujeu, Captain, 127 

Beavers, 2, 104, 119 

Belgium, 64 

Berkeley, Lord, 133 

Bienville, Sieur de, 128 

Black Hawk Indians, 214 

Black Plague, the, 131 

Black Prince, the, 23 

Black Sea, 15, 16, 20, 30 

Blackwall, 79 

Blue Ridge Mts., 155, 173 

Boabdil, 34 

Bonaparte. Napoleon, 186 

Boone, Daniel, 211 

Borneo, 19 

Boscawen, Admiral, 148 

Boston, 87, loi. HI, 139, 144 

Boston Neck, 166 

Boston "Tea Party," 164 

Bowery, the. N. Y. City, 114 

"Boxers", the Chinese, 246 

Braddock. Edward, 146, 157-138 

Bradford, William, 91-103 

Brandywine River, 171 

Brazil, 48 

Brewster, William, 91-98 

Brooklyn, 107 



Brougham, Lord. 227 
Bryan, William J., 240 
Bryant, WilUam CuUen, 231 
Buchanan, James, 217 
Bunker Hill, 167, 205 
Burgoync, John, 154, 172 
Bute, Lord, 149 

Cabinet, the President's, 222 

Cable, the Atlantic, 233 

Cabot, John. 42, 75 

Cabot, Sebastian, 75, 113, 136 

Cadiz, 70 

Calais. 70, 120 

Calhoun, John C, 208 

Calicut, 19, 43, 70 

California, 68, 116, 210. 216, 233 

Calvert, Lord, 117 

Cambridge, 168 

Canada, 148, 130 

Canals, 14, 16, 229, 249 

Canary Islands, 31, 36, 79 

Canoes, Indian, 3 

Canonicus, 98 

Canton, O., 237 

Cape Ann, 83, 200 

Cape Bojador, 27 

Cape Breton Island, 143 

Cape Cod, 83, 93, loi 

Cape Fear River, 79 

Cape Horn, 68 

Cape Non, 23 

Cape of Good Hope, 42, 49 

Cape Tragabigzanda, 85 

Capitals of the United States, 176, 183, 184 

Caracas, 72 

Caravans, 19 

Caribbean Sea. 44, 48 

Carpenters' Hall, 163 

Carteret, Sir George, 133 

Cartier, Jacques, 1x7 

Carver, John, 93, 94, 96 

Caspian Sea, 17 

Castle Pinckney, 219 

Catholics, 63, 113-129 

Cebu, 49 

Census, the, 248 

Cervera, Admiral, 243 

Ceuta, 24 

Chagres River, 67 

Charles I of England. 130, 141 

Charles II of England, 113, 130, 137 

Charles I of Spain, 48, 30, 33, 39 

Charleston, S. C, 193, 219 

Charlestown. 87, loi, 

Chatham, the Earl of, 133-154 

Cherokees, the, 193 

Chesapeake Bay, 79, 83 

Chester, 133 

Chicago, 43 

Chickahominy River, 80, 81 

Chickasaws, 4 

Chimneys, 30, 61 

China, 17, 73, 105, 118, 246 

Choctaws, 4 



255 



256 



INDEX 



Christian Religion. 53, 65, 77, 91 

Church of England, 80, Sg. 92, 100, 130 

Cincinnati, 225 

Cinl War. 219-222 

Clans, Indian, 3 

Clark, Geo. Rogers. 173 

Clarke, William. 187 

Clay, Henry, 209, 216 

Clermon!, the, 225 

Columbus, Bartholomew, 20, 32, 42-44 

Columbus, Christopher, 28, 29-45, 245 

Columbus, Diego, 29, 41 

Compass, 23, 82. 118. 120 

Compromise, the Mis.souri, 216 

Concord, Battle of, 166 

Confederate States, 219, 220, 221 

Congress. Continental, 165, 166-176, 19s 

Connecticut, 102 

Connecticut River, 101, 106 

Constantinople. 19. 30. 78 

Constitutional Convention, 175-196 

Constitution, the U. S., 94, 175 

Conti. Fort. 122 

Convention, the Hartford. 202, 208 

Cooper, James Fenimore, 231 

Cork, Ireland, 132 

Cornwallis. Lord Charles, 170, 173 

Cortes, the Spanish. 241 

Cortez, Hernando, 49 

Cortez, Martin. 66 

Corvo, the Island of, 31 

Cotton, 159, 226 

Cotton Gin, 226 

Creeks. the, 4, 188 

CrcveccBur, Fort, 123 

Cromwell, Ohver, 130, 161 

Cromwell, Richard, 130 

Cuba. 39. 49. 150. 241-249 

Cumberland River, 181 

Curafoa. 105 

Custis, Martha, 158 

Cuzco, SI. 54 

Dakotalis. 4 

Dartmouth College, 199 

Davis, Jefferson. 219. 221 

Declaration of Independence, 153, t68 

Declaration of Rights, 151, 166 

Delaware, 135, 144 

Delaware Bay, 106 

Delaware River, 133, 135, 170 

Delfts Haven, 93 

Democratic Party, 206. 209, 217 

Deptford, 69 

De Soto, Fernando, 46-60, 80 

Detroit, 173 

Devonshire, Eng., 63 

Dewey, George, 243, 244 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 35, 42 

Dinwiddle, Robert, 156 

District of Columbia, 184 

Doge of Venice, 21 

Don River, 78 

Dorchester, 87. loi 

Douglas, Stephen A., 218 

Dover, 70 

Drake, Sir Francis, 61-73 

Dublin, 132 

Dunmorc, Lord, 163 

Duquesne, Fort, 145, 157, 158 

Dutch, the. 76.89,93, 102, 104-114, 133. i35 

Duxbury Hall,Eng.,88 

Dtixbury, Mass., 101, 102 



Easter Celebration. 112 

East India Company. Dutch, 104 

East India Company. English. 163, 179 

East Indies. 49, 61, 69, 74, 142 

East Jersey, 133 

East River, 11 1 

Edward III of England, 23 

¥.\ Dorado. 48, 50, 217 

Electricity, 231-235 

Elizabeth. Queen, 64-78, 88, 141 

Elm, the Treaty. 129. 136 

Emancipation Proclamation, 221 

Endicott. John, 87 

England, 24. 45. 61, 87, 150 

English Channel, 65 

English Settlements, First, 80, 126 

Episcopalians. 166 

"E Pluribus Unum", 194 

Erie Canal. 229 

Erie, Lake. 122 

Eton College, Eng., 142 

Europe. 1,15 

Expansion, Territorial, 236-250 

Fairfax, Lord. 155-173 

"Father of Waters", 4 

Federal Hall. N. Y., 176 

Federalists, the, 182 

Ferdinand. King, 33, 40, 44 

Field, Cyrus W., 233 

Five Nations, i. 3. 11, 107-9, 120, 136. 147 

Flag, the American, 202, 210, 219, 248 

Florida, 55-59. 80. 150, 189 

Fort Duquesne, 145-157, 158 

Fort Niagara, 148 

Fort Orange. 106. in, 114 

Fort Pinckney, 219 

Fort Pitt. 148 

Fort St. Louis. 125 

Fort Saratoga, 154, 172 

Fort Sumter, 219 

Fort Ticonderoga. 146 

Fort William Henry, 146 

"Fountain of Youth", 55 

Fox. George, i.-g 

France. 45, 107, 139, 150, 167. 172 

Franciscaps, the. 120 

Franklin. Benjamin, 152, 153, 161, 165, 167, 

168. 174, 175, 194, 106, 231 
Free Soil Party. 217 
"Free Trade", 206 

French Fleet in Revolutionary W;ir, 172, 17^ 
Friends, the, 129 
Friesland, 104 

Frolic, the, 201 « 

Frontenac. Count de, 1 18-124 
Fulton. Robert, 225 
Fur Trade, 106 

Gage, Thomas. 166 

Gama, Va.sco da, 28, 43 

Garfield. James A.. 239 

Gates, Horatio, 172 

Genoa, 20, 24, 29, 30. :i3 

"Gentlemen", 80 

George I, 140 

George II. 143, 147. 140 

George III, 149, 159, 227 

Georgia, 144 

Gla.ss. 61 

Gold. 39. 44. 48, 55- 216, 240 

Golden Hind, the, 69 

Gondolas, 14, is. i9 



INDEX 



257 



Government of the U. S., 175 

Government, Self, q4, 102 

Granada. 34 

Grand Canal, Venice, 14, 15 

Grant, Ulvsses S., 221, 222, 235 

Great Wall, the, 17, 18 

Greeley. Horace, 218 

Green Bay, 124 

Greenland. 31 

Griffin, the, 122, 123 

Guam, Island, 249 

Cuerriere, the, 201 

Guinea, 31, 65 

Gulf of Mexico, 56, 121, 126-128 

Gunpowder, 21 

Hamilton, Alexander, 17s, 182, 196 

Hancock. John, 166 

Harrison, Benjamin, 160 

Hartford, loi, m 

Hartford Convention. 202, 208 

Harvard College, 103 

Havana, 150 

Havana Bay, 30, 242 

Hawaiian Islands. 244 

Hawkins. Sir John. 65 

Hawthorne. Nathaniel, 231 

Hay. John. 249 

Hayne, Robert, 206-208 

Hayti, 39, 41, 47 

Hennepin. Father, t20 

Henry VII of England, 42, 75, 141 

Henry VIII of England, 63, 75 

Henry, the Navigator, i, 23-28, 30 

"Hermitage", the, 190, 194 

Hessians, the, 153, 167, 170 

Hiawatha, 1-13 

Hobomok, 97-102 

Holland, 64, 195 

Holland. Pilgrims in. 91-93 

Holston River, 182 

Holy Land, 77 

Hongkong, China, 243 

Honolulu. 244 

House of Burgesses. 86, 158 

House of Commons. 142, 151, 152, 158, 174 

House of Lords, English. 142, 153 

House of Representatives, 175 

Howe. Admiral Lord. 169 

Howe. Sir William, 169 

Hudson, Henry, 106, 113 

Hudson River, 93, 106, 136, 168 

Hung.ary, 77 

Huron, I^ake, 122 

Hurons, the, 147 

lagoo, s 

Iberville, Sieur d', 128 ' 

Idaho, 235 

Illinois. 173, 190 

Illinois River, 123 

Immigration, Am., 204, 215, 229 

Impressment of American Sailors, 200 

Inca, the, 50-54 

Independence Hall, 168 

India, 25, 32, 34 

Indiana, 173, 190 

Indians, 1-13, 38, 40, 80, 96, 100, 106, i^'i, 

136 
Indian Sea, 19 
Indian Territory, 193 
Internal Improvement, 206, 229 
Invincible Armada, 70 



Ireland, 71, 131, 148 

Iroquois, the, 1-13, 107, 109, 120, 136, 147 

Irving, Wa.shington, 230 

Isabella, Queen, ;}i, 40, 44 

Isthmus of Panama, 44, 47, 50, 67, 240 

Italians, 24 

Italy, 14, 20. 77 

Jackson, Andrew, 178-194, 206 

Jamaica, 130, 142 

James I, 78, 83, 92, 141 

James II, 137-140 

James, Duke of York, 113, 133, 135, tj7 

James River, 79, 80 

Jamestown, 80, 86, 92 

Japan, 16, 18, 20, 105 

Java, 16, 19 

Java, the, 201 

Jay, John, 165, 166, 174 

Jefferson, Thomas, 168, 176, 182, 186 

Jesuits. 115 

John, King of Portugal, 23, 32 

"Join or Die", 151 

Joliet, Louis, 121 

Joly, the. 127 

Jones. John Paul, 172 

Judith, the, 65 

Kansas, 217 ' 

Kaskaskia, 173 

Kent, James, 231 

Kentucky, 5, 182 

Key, Francis Scott, 202 

Khan, the Great, 17, 19, 36, 39 

Kieft, William, 108 

King's Mountain, 173 

Kingston, 120 

Klondike River, 24a 

Knoxville, Tenn., 182 

Kobi, Desert of, 17 

Ladrone Islands, 48. 245, 249 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 171, 205, 229 

Lagos, 27 

Lake Champlain. 146 

Lake George. 146 

Lake Ontario. 107 

Lancashire. Eng., 88 

Lapland, 75 

La Salle, Cavelier de, 115-128, 136 

Las Flores, 31 

Lawrence. James, 200 

Lawrence, the, 200 

Lee. Richard Henry, 160 

Lee, Robert E., 221 

Leif the Lucky, 31 

Leon, Ponce de, 55 

Lewis, Meriwether, 187 

Lexington, Battle of, 166 

Leyden, 90 

"Lilies of France", 125 

Lima, 55, 67 

Lincoln, Abraham, 211-223 

Lincoln's Inn. 131, 142 

Lisbon, 23, 70 

Literature, American, 230, 231 

Livingston, Robert R., 168, 186 

Livingston, William, 165 

London. 65. 78. 131 

London Company. 79. 83 

Longfellow. Henry W., 12, 100 

Long House. Indian. 3 

Long Island, 107 



258 



INDEX 



"Lord Millions", 20 

Louis XIV of France, 119, 120, 131. 138 

Louis X\I, 171 

Louisburg, 143 

Louisiana, 1 15-128, i8s 

Luzon, 243 

Lynn, Eng., 74 

Macedonian, the, 201 

McKinley Tariff, 240 

McKinley, William, 236-250 

Madeira Islands, 27 

Madison, James, 175, 188, 196 

Madras. India, 142, 143 

Magellan, 48 

Maine, 96, 144 

Maine, the, 242 

Maize, 7, 11 

Malabar, \g 

Mandeville, .Sir John, 31 

Manhattan Island, 107 

Manila, 150, 243 

Manila Bay, 243 

Manufactures, American, 204 

Maria Christina, Queen, 241 

Marietta, Ohio, 225 

Mariner's Compass, 23 

Marquette, Father, 121 

Marseilles. 77 

Marshall, John, 231 

Mary II. Queen of England, 138 

Maryland, 129. 144 

Mason and Dixon "s Line, 138, 206 

Massachusetts, loi, 102, 144 

Massasoit, 96, loi 

Matagorda Bay. 127 

Mavilla (Mobile), 58 

Maximilian. Emperor, in Mexico, 238 

Mayflower, the, 87 

Mediterranean Sea, 16, 20, 23 

Memphis. 58 

Merrymount, 100 

Mexico, 44. 45. 49, 216, 238 

Miami. Fort. 123 

Michigan. 173 

Miles. Nelson A., 244 

Minnesota, 173 

Mississippi River, 59, 118, 136 

Missouri River, 60 

Mobilian Indians, 4 

Mohawk Indians, 11 

Mohawk. River. 107 

Monongahela River, 157 

Monroe Doctrine, 203, 238 

Moru-oe, James, 186, 190, 203 

Montana, 235 

Montcalm, Marquis de, 146 

Montezuma, 7, 49 

Montreal, 117 

Moors, 24, 34. 46 

Morristown, N. J., 171 

Morse, S. F. B., 224-235 

Mount Hope, 96 

Mount V'ernon, 155, 156, 175, 177 

Mullens, Priscilla, 98 

Muskingum River, 225 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 186 
Napoleon III, 238 
Narragansetts, the, 98 
Nashville, Tenn., 181, 190 
Natchez. 187 
Nationalists, the, 206-209 



National Pike Road, 229 

Navy, the U. S., 200, 220 

Negroes, 27, 65, 215, 221, 239 

Netherlands, the, 64, 76, 89, 102, 104-114 

Nevada, 235 

New Amsterdam, 106-114 

Newcastle, 135 

New England, 85, 93-103, 206 

Newfoundland, 56 

New France, T17 

New Hampshire, 195 

New Haven, loi, 102 

New Jersey, 133, 144 

New Mexico, 216 

New Netherlands, 106-114 

New Orleans, 128, 150, 186-189 

New Orleans. Battle of, 188 

Newport, Christopher, 79, 81, 83 

New Year Celebration, 112 

New York, 114, 135, 138, 144 

New York City, 144. 168 

Niagara Falls, 115, 122 

Niagara. Fort, 148 

Nina, the, 36, 40, 45 

Nokomis, 2-1 1 

Normandy, 115 

North America, 16 

North Carolina, 144 

North, Lord, 154 

North Sea, 74, 90 

North Virginia, 79, 85, 94-103 

Northwest Territory, 187, 224 

Nottinghamshire, 92 

Nova Scotia, 1 1 7 

Nullification Doctrine, 207, 208 

Ohio, 173, 187 

Ohio Company, 145, 156 

Ohio River, 119, 145, 156 

Ohio N'alley, 157 

Oneidas, 11 

Onondagas. 11 

Ontario, Lake, 119, 120 

Oporto, Portugal, 24 

Oregon, 236 

Orinoco River, 43 

Oxford University, England, 131, 142 

Pacific Ocean, 16. 47, 48, 118, 248 

Pakenham, Sir Edward, 188 

Palestine, 17 

Palma. Estrada, 248 

Palos, 45 

Panama Canal, 44, 249 

Panama, Isthmus of. 44, 47, 50, 67 

Panama Republic, 249 

Paris. Treaty ot (1783), 174 

Parkman, Francis, 128 

Parliament, the English, 137, 142, 151-154, 

172 
Patagonia, 48 
Patroons, 107 
Pedro the Traveler, 26 
Pekin, 17, 36, 247 
Pendleton, Edmund. 160 
Penn, Admiral Sir William, 130-133 
Penn, William. 129-140 
Pennsylvania, 134-140, 144 
Penobscot River, 85 
Peoria, 111., 123 
Perry, Oliver H., 200 
Persia, 22, 105 
Peru, 44, 50-55.67 



INDEX 



259 



Philadelphia, 135, 164, 175, 183 

Philip I of Spain, 64, 67, 76, 105 

Philippa, Queen, 23 

Philippine Islands, 49, 68, 149-50, 243-250 

Pilgrims. 87, 91 

Pinckney, Castle, 219 

Pin/a, the, 36, 40, 45 

Pitt, Fort. 145. 148, 157, 158 

Pitt, William, 141-154 

Pittsburg, 204 

Pizarro. Francisco, 50-55 

Plain, or Field, of Abraham, 148 

Plymouth Company, 79, 85 

Plymouth, England. 63. 65, 79 

Plymouth, Mass,, 95, 112 

Pocahontas. 82. 84. 86 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 231 

Point St. Vincent, 26, 30 

Ponce de Leon, 55 

Porto Rico, 55, 244-249 

Port Royal, 117 

Portugal, 23-28, 45, 61, 69, IDS 

Potomac River. 83, 15s 

Powhatan, 82, 83 

Presbyterians, 166 

President of U. S., 175 

Protestants, 63 

Providence, R. I. .101 

Puritans, 87, 88-103, 107, 129 

Quakers, 129-140 
Quebec, 117, 121, 148 
Quebec Bill, 164 

Railroads, 229, 234 

Raleigh, Sir \V alter, 75, 79, 89 

Randolph, Peyton, 160 

Red River, 59 

Representatives, House of, 17s. 

Republican, Democratic-, Party, 206 

Rep'.ibhcan, Nationalist-, Party, 206 

Republican Party, Original, iSz 

Republican Party (1856). 217 

Republican, Whig-, Party, 209 

Revolution, the American, 162-175 

Revolution, the Cuban. 241-245, 248 

Rhode Island, loi, 144, 175 

Rialto. the, 16, 19 

Richmond, Va., 221 

Robinson. John. 91, 93 

Rocky Mountains, 4 

Rolfe. John, 86 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 247-250 

"Roundheads", 129 

Roxbury, Mass., 87, loi 

Russia, 239 

Rutledge, Edward, 165 

Rutledge, John, 165 

St. Augustine, Fla.. 56 

St. Joseph River (Mich.), 123 

St. Lawrence River, 117 

St. Louis, 187 

St. Mark's Square (Venice), 20 

St. Ouen's Cathedral (Rouen), 117 

St. Sulpice (Canada), 118 

Salamanca, Council of, 33 

Salem, Mass., loi 

Samoset. 96 

Sampson, William T., 243 

Sangamon River, 213 

San Juan, 244 

San Lur-j, 56 



San Salvador, 38 

Sanla Maria, 35, 30, 39, 45 

Santiago de Cuba, 56, 243 

Santo Domingo, 43 

Saratoga, Battle of, 172 

Savannah, Ga., 180 

Say brook, 101 

Scalp-locks. 5, 10 

Schley, Winfield S., 243, 244 

Schuylkill River, 135 

Scotland, 148 

Scrooby, 92 

"Sea to Sea" Charters, 122 

Secession of States, 219, 220 

Seine River, 115 

Seminoles, 4 

Senate, U. S., 175 

Sendall, Sir Thomas, 74 

Senecas, 11 

Separatists, 91 

Seville, 44, 55 

Seward, William H,, 238 

Shafter. WilUam R., 244 

Shenandoah Valley, 155 

Sheridan, Philip, 238 

Sherman, Roger, 168, 175 

Sigismund, Prince, 78 

Sign Writing, Indian, 12 

Slavery Question, 65, 215-221 

Smith, John, 74-87, 93, 94 

Soto, Fernando de, 46-60 

South, the, U. S., 138 

Southampton, Eng., 93 

South Carohna, 144 

"South Sea"j 48, 81 » 

South Virginia, 79 

Spain, 24. 33 46, 48, 61, 89, 105, 130 

Spanish Main, 72 

Speedwell, the, 93 

Spices, 15, 20, 25, 118 

Spinning Wheels, 95, 99 

Squantum, 97 

StampTa.x, 151 159-161 

Standish Hall, 83 

Standish, Allies, S8-103, 112 

Standish, Rose, 91, 95 

Stanford, Leland, 235 

"Star Spangled Banner", 202 

Staten Island, 171 

Steamboats, 225, 226 

Stocks, the, 89, 132 

Story, Joseph, 231 

Strait of Gibraltar, 24 

Stuyvesant, Peter, 104-114 

Submarine Cable, 233 

Sumatra, 19 

Sumter, Fort, 219 

Superior, Lake, 122 

Supreme Court, 175 

Tampa Bay, 56 

Tariff, the Protective, 191-193, 205, 240 

Tavistock, 63 

Tea Tax. 162-164, i79 

Telegraph, the, 231-235 

Tenncs.sce, 182 

Tennessee River, 4 

Texas, 127, 216 

Thames River, Canada, 201 

Thames River, England, 79, 86 

Thibet, 22 

Ticonderoga, Fort, 146, 168 

Tobacco, 65, 113 



26o 



INDEX 



Toleration Act, 137. 141 
Tonti, Chevalier de, 122-128 
Tories. 163, 173, 179, 19s 
Toscanelli, 32 
Totems. Indian. 4 
Tower of London, 132, 133 
Trade. 20, 24. 105, 113, 117, 137, 144 
Tragabigzanda, Cape, 85 
Treaties: Paris (1783), 174; Spanish Amer- 
ican, 245 
Trenton, N. J., 170 
Trinity River, 127 
Turkeys, 75 
Turnpike Road, National, 229 

Union, Federal, the, 213 

Union Pacific Railroad, 234 

United Colonies of America, 94, 102, 164-176 

United Colonies of New England, loi, 102 

United Netherlands, 105 

Valladolid, .Spain, 44, 55 

Valley Forge, 171 

\'an Rensselaer, Killian, 108, in 

Venice, 14, 24, 29, a 

Vera Cruz, 49 

Vere, Sir Thomas, go 

V'ermont, 168 

Versailles, 126 

Vice-President of the U. S., 17s 

Victoria, Queen, 234 

Vincennes, Fort, 173 

Virginia, 79-87 

Virginia Resolutions, 161 

Wales. Europe, 134 

Wampanoags, the, 96 

Wampum. 136 

War, Moorish, 34, 35 

Warren, Commodore, 143 

Wars: American. 111-114, 143, 145-150; 
American Revolution, 166, 174; 1812, 
200-202,227; Civil War, 219-222; Mexi- i 
can War, 216; Spanish, 242-245 



Wars, Chinese, 18, 246, 247 

Wars, Dutch, 76, 89, 102, 105, 111-14 

Wars, English, 69-70, 102, 143, 166-174 

Wars, French, 143, 145-150 

Wars, Indian, 5-9, 49, 54, 57, 99, jgg, 2,^ 

Wars, Japanese. 18 

Wars. Portuguese, 24, 69 

Wars, Turkish, 30, 34, 35, 77 

Wars. Venetian. 21. 29 

Washington, D. C. 184 

Washington, George, 148, 155-177 

Washington, Lawrence, 155-156 

Webster, Daniel. 195-210 

West, Benjamin, 227 

West Indian Company, the Dutch, 106-114. 

West Indies, 45, 79, 105, 130 

West Jersey, 133 

West Point, 197, 220 

Weymouth, 99 

Whigs, 163, 179, 209 

Whitehall, 131 

White House, the, 184 

White Oak Swamp, 81 

Whitney, Eli, 226 

Whittier, John G., 231 

William of Orange, 138-140 

Williamsburg, Va., 156, 158 

Williams, Roger, loi 

Willoughby, 74 

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 75 

Windward Islands, 41 

Winslow, Edw,ard, 91-103 

Winthrop, John, 87 

Wisconsin, 173 

Witchcraft, 114 

Wolfe. James. 148 

World's Fair, Chicago, 45 

Yale College, 226 

York, the Duke of, 113, 133, 13, 

Yorktown, 173 

Yukon River, 241 



AUG 15 1910 



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